In Kinder, we have formed a group of students to p a pilot project with Scratch, an animation program developed by MIT, Massachussetts Institute of Technology. It`s hard to believe, but 4 and 5 year old students are programming. They create and face the challenges Scratch provides. Step by step, this program inspires new ways of possible solutions. Through trial and error, they learn the commands, it may be difficult for them to read but they identify each tool function by their shapes and colors. Our students want to tell, express and share what they imagine. Since the beginning, our expectations were exceeded. It is great to see how our kids control the tools and discover within a whole thinking system that this programming language offers.
What an amazing story of how Scratch can reach audiences as young as 4 years old! Thank you for sharing! I really enjoyed seeing these young students explain the different commands they want the Sprite to do and then picking the right jigsaw pieces to make the Sprite do those commands. I also liked to see how they still acted like 4 and 5 year olds during the video too. It kept reminding me how incredible it is that these young students are showing the basic understanding of computer programming, yet they still enjoy being funny kids. This gives me some motivation and push to introduce this program to my 6th and 7th grade gifted students. I think this program has the problem solving skills that I am looking for to enhance my middle school math cirriculum.
Hi
Thanks , I'm waiting for this project
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed your video. Do you have a website that explains more about your pilot program?
Hi Susan,
I found this on their website -- http://itjqro.edu.mx/general/scratch-kids/
Hope that helps!
K
Yes, that's the only information we have published so far... the project is still on it's early stages... hope we have more to share soon!
Thank you for sharing the video. I think it was especially great to hear the students talk about their work and explain their thinking. I would be interested to see the water project that the students made. Is it on the Scratch website or could it perhaps be uploaded here with the story?
I absolutely love the picture!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video and the picture. The water project is still under construction, but I will upload it here as soon as it's finished.