Teaching Scratch to uninterested teens
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Pamela Stein
Member
September 17, 2012
I'm working in an after school program with teens that get bored easily. I've tried to inspire them with the online projects. They had absolutely no interest in that. It is nearly impossible to get through the exercises. As a last resort I asked them to just play around with the program. Any ideas would be helpful.
My students love the Dance Party activity that was just mentioned by Michelle Chung. It really gets the kids up and moving and ties programming to something the students can relate to.
One thing that motivated my students was to have them create games for a special education classroom. The difference in the quality of work went way up when they realized that they were not creating something just to get a passing grade. They loved the idea that they were creating something that would be used by other students.
You must be a excellent teacher. You give great advise. I will make use of your tips. I didn't know about shallwelearn.com, thank you for that.
I have experimented in different ways with my students to interest them in learning Scratch. The best results I got was with a maze game assignment which made them want to get the sprite through the maze. I too find it necessary to limit the amount of time spent on the exercises. I love your idea of an open-ended design project. The key I think is in allowing them to develop their own ideas. It is better to not be too controlling.
Thanks again Kelly for you help.
I have some similar challenges. I teach 9th grade. I used the resources at shallwelearn.com and modified them into small projects. The students could follow them exactly as written, but got extra points for personalization. At the beginning, for most kids, that means playing with beats, music, and drawing tools, which most teens like. The more motivated kids personalized the programs in more sophisticated ways. I didn't do much explicit teaching at first, but began incorporating 5 min. Do Nows to review the use of certain blocks and logic structures, which allowed me to teach certain things they were having trouble with. After a couple of projects, I assigned them an open-ended design project. They work in pairs or individually, by their own choice. The kids have really taken their own interests and incorporated them into the projects, and most are at least moderately engaged. I have posted my Do Nows in the resource section, and could share other stuff if desired.
I hope that helps!
One continuing challenge is that the kids work at wildly different speeds, so figuring out when to set firm deadlines for finishing projects is tough.
Hi Michelle,
Thank you so much. This is very helpful!! I will try incorporating your suggestions into a plan and will let you know how it goes.
P
Glad to hear it was helpful! Please keep me posted on how it goes.
M
Hi Pamela,
I find it sometimes helps if students can connect their work to something personally meaningful. Is there something relevant going on at school or in the community that might make an interesting theme?
One activity that we've used in the past with teens is the Dance Party activity. It can be especially fun to take pictures of individual students doing different dance moves and then have them animate themselves in Scratch. Students might also enjoy incorporating their favorite song or work collaboratively in groups.
Let me know what other ideas you come up with!
M