Scratch in the Class

Four weeks ago I started the main part of my honours project - going into 2 schools to try and introduce Scratch to the children (age 8 years old)as part of their lessons.   I hope that by doing so they will learn a bit about programming while enjoying what they are doing at the same time and hopefully not put them off programming in later life.  Each week I go into the class and talk to the children for a little bit to explain what they will be doing, though now im taking in a remote control toy to help me explain how to move about on screen.    This seems to be getting their attention more and they are enjoying the work they are doing. After each lesson they fill out an evaluation and so far most think that Scratch is fun to work with.  With the new curriculum being impemented in Scotland at present this is a great time to look at the Computing strands of the curriclum and find ways of introducing them into the class.  With Scratch as well there is opportunity for Cross-curricular work in the class, with the work im doing it is covering mathematics & computing strands. This is just one way which cross curricular work can be undertaken and im sure there will be other ways in which Scratch can be used across the curriculum.