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Scratch text recommendations

« Teaching with Scratch
8 replies [Last post]
Randy Latimer
Member

I'm looking for a good text on using Scratch in the classroom, similar to "Learning To Program With Alice" in the Alice language.  Sorry, but I wasn't so impressed with Scratch For Teens.  Let me know if there are others to look at. Thanks

Replies
Michael Badger
Member

You can check out scratchguide.com, which is my author website for Scratch 1.4 Beginner's Guide from Packt Publishing. It has a couple sample chapters from the book in the "Tutorials" category. 

Chapter 3 - Introduction - the Basics

Chapter 3 - Introduction - Sprites, Costumes, Community

Chapter 7 - Lists, mod, if-else [Fortune Teller Game]

This may or may be what you're looking for. If you like the sample chapters, you'll like the entire book. 

Disclaimer: I am the author. 

Michael Badger

 

 

Karen Randall
Member

I've been wanting to learn about lists, so tried out your Chapter 7 this morning. The section organization is impressive.  I appreciate the clear directions, tables, and screen shots, plus the "what just happened" explanations, all easy to follow.  If ever you consider a revision, I'd be interested in a "what you can do with this" section.  When kids work thorough a tutorial for a specific project, a next step is for them to think about how the concepts might apply in projects of their own. (Maybe you have that in the full book.)

Thanks for sharing this useful link, even if you are the author!

Michael Badger
Member

Hopefully, you enjoyed your fortunes. The idea of incorporating explicit sections for "what you can do with this" is an interesting one and I've made a note of it for future revisions. The general format of the tutorials is that they start with specific steps (Time for Action) followed by reflections (What Just Happened) followed by more general discussions. It's in this general discussion area that I tried to accomplish some of what your you're suggesting.

Thank you for the feedback.

Karen Randall
Member

I had lots of fun with the graphics--like my students, that part tends to take over from the programming.  Here is a link to the project:  http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/room209/802067.  I was also trying out WeDo sensors, so it uses the distance sensor to "read" your palm.

It is interesting to consider how to balance out "discover it yourself when you need it" teaching with Scratch and instruction on specific elements as provided by your tutorials--when and how often to give kids step-by-step project directions. Your work reminds me that no one approach fits all circumstances.  For example, I don't know much about programming with operator blocks like mod.  From your lesson, I learn that it is a way of singling out a specific response in an otherwise random list (I think!)--and now have a new tool I wouldn't have discovered on my own. As an elementary school teacher, I appreciate the push to the next level of programming your lesson provides.

Karen Randall
Member

There are several web resources where people have posted starting projects and units for school use, including the Scratch team's getting started and reference files in the support tab section for educators.  This wiki link has a bunch of sites all listed in one place:

http://wiki.classroom20.com/Scratch

Not the same as being able to hand someone a book, though.  Rummaging around my teaching stuff last summer, I came across the box of Logo books--amazing to remember how much was published, at all different levels of application. 

That sets me to wondering, if there was such a book for Scratch in the classroom, "Learning to Program with Scratch," what would it have in it?

Karen R.

Karen Brennan
Member

Here's a list of all the resources currently tagged as "textbooks" on ScratchEd --http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/search/results/taxonomy%3A38

I have yet taken a close look at the new book from Packt -- http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/scratch-14-beginner’s-guide -- but maybe that might be of interest?

The tutorials from LearnScratch.org are very popular, if not necessarily in a text format -- http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/video-courses-learnscratchorg

Randy Latimer
Member

Thanks for all these good suggestions.  By the way, Karen, Crystal is here now ( in Virginia), she taught Scratch at Cardinal Forest Elem in Springfield VA last year.  I hear she may be connecting with you this year.  She's talking now with the two students (seniors) teaching this year at Cardinal Forest.  One student is using Scratch with the younger grades, the other student is using Storytelling Alice with 4th graders.  They go once a week on Tuesdays.

It'd be nice to keep up a connection with you all up at the media center. 

Karen Brennan
Member

Yes, I met with Crystal a few weeks ago. I'm hoping that she'll be joining our research group as an undergraduate researcher for the month of January. I'm really looking forward to learning more about her experiences teaching Scratch at Cardinal Forest!