scratch workshop (1)

Constructionism 2010 - Scratch Workshop - Friday 20 August

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Scratch Workshop (1) Constructionism 2010 - Friday 20 August

Use

ful

info

rmat

ion

: Workshop website: http://edi.fmph.uniba.sk/~kabatova/scratch.htm

Scratch website: http://scratch.mit.edu

Scratch download: http://scratch.mit.edu/download

ScratchED website: http://scratched.media.mit.edu

Designing Animations and Games - A Creative Introduction to Programming (About flying Elephants, Dogs, Cats and Ideas!) website: http://www.cs.uni-potsdam.de/~romeike/UEWettbewerb/index-english.htm

Wh

at is

Scr

atch

? Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.

As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

The programming environment is localized to many languages and can be downloaded for free.

1 Introduction to Scratch Demonstration: Scratch is very intuitive and easy to figure out. Default screen looks like the image

below - it is divided into five main parts:


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Block Palette: On the left are blocks that can be dragged into central area. Blocks snap

together like puzzle pieces. There are several types of blocks and they are of different colors.

Tabs: Edit scripts, costumes, or sounds. Switch between them.

Script Area: Here the blocks are dragged from palette. Script is an executable program

associated with some sprite.

Stage: Here is the stage where your creations come to life.

Sprite List: This area contains list of thumbnails for your sprites. Select them by clicking.

How to change the background of the scene: Click on the "Stage" at Sprite List. Choose

"Background" from Tabs. Click Import and choose an image you like to use as background for your

stage.

How to add new sprite to scene: Click the "New sprite from file" button at the Sprite List. Choose the

image for your new sprite.


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2 Eight Blocks Hands on activity: Create your own Scratch scene and script using only 8 blocks.

Pro

ject

1

Create your own project using only these 8 blocks:

Pro

ject

2 Improve your project by using another four blocks:

Sho

w &

Te

ll

Tell your classmates about the project you have done:

What does it do?

What are you first impressions of playing with Scratch?

3 Various Projects and Scratch

Community Demonstration: Scratch has a vivid community of enthusiastic users. At the official Scratch website

anyone can register an upload their own project to share with others. The projects range from

interactive music instruments, games, educational applications, mazes, simulations, animated stories

to anything possible. Some examples:

Piano: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/Animecat33/1209527

Twig's Adventure- Maisie's Maze: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/7scratch7/1207684

Fantasy RPG: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/wedsneday/1155407

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/wedsneday/1155407


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Exp

lore

Go to projects website http://scratch.mit.edu/channel/featured and find something you like. Explore few projects, try to describe in which category would they fit (e.g. animated story, game, maze, quiz, ...).

4 The Postcard Project Demonstration: In this project the goal is to create an interactive postcard for a place I would like to

visit. I named my project "ScratchCat in Paris".

5 Your Own Postcard Hands on activity: Create your own postcard.

Pro

ject

3 Create your own postcard:

choose a destination,

find suitable background on the internet and use it for the scene,

add some sprites, make them move, make sounds when clicked,

add texts like "Welcome to Paris!", ...


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Less

on

s Le

arn

ed

Review your own and your neighbors’ projects, and share your observations about

Scratch.

Generate a list of suggestions for other educators.

Which blocks do you find most useful or essential for interactive projects?

6 ScratchED Community Demonstration: "A wide variety of educators have been supporting Scratch creators, in both formal

and informal learning environments: a teacher who wants to share stories about Scratch and cross-

curricular integration; a researcher who wants feedback on materials developed for exploring Scratch

as participatory literacy; a parent who wants advice on how to introduce Scratch at a local all-girls

high school; a museum program director who wants to connect with other museums who have

introduced Scratch. In response to this growing community of educators working with Scratch, we

developed ScratchEd. Launched in July 2009, ScratchEd is a new online community where Scratch

educators share stories, exchange resources, ask questions, and find people."

Exp

lore

Go to projects website http://scratched.media.mit.edu/ and find some resources that would help you design a lesson with Scratch for your classroom.

Stories: What are your stories about working with Scratch? With stories, you can share your

experiences, challenges, and reflections.

Resources: What helps you to support people learning with Scratch? With resources, you can

share all types of content, across different curricular areas and ages.

Discussions: How do I do that? What do you think? With discussions, you can share your

questions, suggestions, and insights with others.

Members: Whether close by or far away, there are numerous Scratch educators around the

world for you to connect with. Explore the map or browse the members list to find people

with shared interests and experiences.

http://scratched.media.mit.edu/stories

http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources

http://scratched.media.mit.edu/discussions

http://scratched.media.mit.edu/members


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7 Unleash Your Creativity -

project prompts Hands on activity: create small projects based on these prompts. Choose one of them or make up

something on your own.

Pro

ject

4 Dance Theatre

Use several figures to create dance theatre - each figure will dance in a different way. Find suitable background and dance music. You can add some extra effects - e.g. small bird will suddenly fly over the stage. Use color effects and changing of costumes. You may add music and sounds.

Pro

ject

5 Fish Tank

Create interactive fish tank. Put inside various fish. They move around like fish do and when clicked they do something - e.g. change the direction, or do flip-flop.

You can add can with fish food - invent some way to feed the fish.

Pro

ject

6

Interactive picture vocabulary

Create interactive picture vocabulary for particular theme. E.g. an animal farm - find suitable background (farm) and pictures for sprites (animals). When the sprite-animal is clicked it will pop a bubble with English and Lathuian name of the animal.

Pro

ject

7

Spooky Castle

Create a scene with monsters and spooks that move and make sounds.

Pro

ject

8 Alien Orchestra

Create a space scene with several aliens. When clicked each of them will play a different instrument. How to make them play all at once?

If you don't have speakers make them jump.


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Scratch Workshop (2) Constructionism 2010 - Friday 20 August

In second part of this workshop we will create some more complicated projects such as games or

stories.

1 "Tell me a story" Demonstration: Story creation with Scratch provides opportunities to explore a variety of

computational concepts and skills. Here are some blocks that are frequently useful in stories.

Pro

ject

1 The Slideshow

Create your own slideshow – a collection of background images accompanied by audio narration or text titles.

You can put there one character that would comment on the background.


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2 Your own story Hands on activity: Create your own story with characters, various backgrounds, text and sound.

Pro

ject

2

Conversation

Get two characters talking to each other. Use the say and wait blocks to coordinate the conversation. You can look up some dramatic play on the internet to give you inspiration or you can invent your own.

Don't forget to set some appropriate background and find some fitting sprites for the characters.

Imp

rov

em

en

t Improve your project: use "Broadcast" block to coordinate the conversation.


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3 "Let's play" Demonstration: Games provide numerous opportunities to explore a variety of computational

concepts and skills. Here are some blocks that are frequently useful in games.

Pro

ject

3

The Maze

GOAL: Get from the start of the maze to the end

RULES: Don’t touch the green walls

OUTCOME: Win when the yellow marker is reached

There will be 7 scripts for the sprite in shape of orange

box. Green and yellow shapes are background. The

scripts for orange box should do:

direct the orange box in 4 directions and move it,

bounce the orange box away from green walls,

announce "You win!" in case the orange box have

reached the yellow box,

restart the position of orange box in case green

flag is pressed.


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4 Design your own game Hands on activity:

Pro

ject

4

Collide

GOAL: Help the cat navigate a gobo minefield

RULES: Collect yellow gobos to earn points, avoid pink gobos to avoid losing points

OUTCOME: Maximize your score

There will be no script for the stage. Each gobo and the cat are

separate sprites.

Cat's scripts should:

reset the cat’s position and the score,

have the cat follow the mouse cursor.

Yellow gobo's script:

when the cat collides with a yellow gobo, the gobo


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disappears and the score increases by 10.

Pink gobo's script:

when the cat collides with a pink gobo, the gobo disappears and the score decreases by 10.

5 Ideas - project prompts Hands on activity: Choose one of following prompts or make up your own project.

Pro

ject

5 Ezop's fable

Find some Ezop's fable on the internet.

Create a short animated story according the fable.

Find appropriate characters and backgrounds, make them talk.

Create a multi scene story with various backgrounds

Pro

ject

7

Pacman Create a pacman game - a character collects dots in a maze and has to avoid monsters.

Pro

ject

8

Cars Create a game for two players (each one uses different keys). Each of them drives one car on racing track and their goal is to reach the end of track first. If they bump into sidewalls they get penalty seconds.

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