Helene Martin - CS4HS 2010 - Creative Programming in Scratch

8/9/2019 Helene Martin - CS4HS 2010 - Creative Programming in Scratch

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Creative Programming in Scratch

CS4HS Seattle 2010

Hlne Martin, Garfield High Schoolhttp://helenemartin.com/cs4hs/2010


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CS4HS Seattle 8/3/2010

Todays goals

Discuss why programming is worth teaching

Introduce the Scratch environment

Demonstrate its value as a teaching tool Go through a few lesson plan ideas

See a few suggested grading rubrics

Brainstorm lesson plans for your classrooms


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Hlne Martin

Computer science teacher at Garfield HS

Exploring CS

Creative Computing AP CS

Computer Science degree from UW

Mission: increase participation in CS Find me at http://helenemartin.com


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Why teach programming?

Problem solving

Algorithmic thinking/thinking like a computer

Understanding of what computers can/cant do Reinforcing learning from core subjects

Algebra

Geometry

Scientific method

Increasing interest in computing fields


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Programming?

Telling the computer what to do

Writing, testing and maintaining source code

Improves attention to details

Empowering!


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The stereotypes


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The reality


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The reality


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Scratch: visual programming

http://scratch.mit.edu


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Check it out

Try out different projects on

http://scratch.mit.edu/channel/featured

(second link from session website)

Look for projects relevant to your subject area


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Statements

Commands or instructions

Any block whose name is read as a command


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Repetition

Loops are used to repeat a piece of code

Iteration is critical in CS but also math, science


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Example: bouncing cat

Make your cat sprite go back and forth across

the screen until the user clicks the mouse


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Visuals

Sprites have costumes

The stage has backgrounds


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Conditionals

Not all statements should be run all the time

Boolean expressions define conditions

Evaluate to true or false


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Example: bouncing ball on beach


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Variables

Placeholders for values

Named by the user

Your turn: resizable polygon


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Rubric: Resizable polygon

__/2 has a size variable

__/2 has a sides variable

__/2 changing variables has desired effect

__/1 has a creative background

__/2 variable sliders on stage for user to set

__/1 clicking on green flag starts program


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Lists

A type of variable that contains multiple

related values

See writeup for graphing assignment


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Increasing problem solving skills

Understanding problem statements

Decomposing problems into solvable pieces

Incremental design

Sample problem: The user can set gridHeight,

gridWidth and gridMargin with sliders. The

cat should draw a grid of size gridHeight bygridWidth, gridMargin away from the edge of

the screen.


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Breaking down the grid problem

(Syntax) How can we get Cat to draw a

horizontal line 30 from the top of the screen?

(G

eometry) How can we get Cat to draw 5evenly spaced horizontal lines?

(Syntax) What kind of loop should we use?

(A

lgorithm) How many times will it repeat? (Algebra) What if we want a margin of 30 on

top and bottom?


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Threads

ADVANCED programming topic

Coordination of multiple things going on at

once Any block beginning with When starts a

thread


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Events

Signal from one thread to another

Broadcast blocks send events

Your turn: put together a short animation onyour summer plans


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Writing: proposal

Have students write formal proposal for a

game or animation

Talk about technical writing Bring in industry guest to hear elevator

pitches


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Design: storyboarding

Encourage students to plan before acting

Help students develop storytelling abilities

Introduce a real-world technique

Your turn: storyboard a classic game (pinball,

pong)


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Parting words

Encourage students to be tech producers

Allow guided play

Teach meaningful 21

st

century skills Hide important lessons in a playful

environment

Leverage existing materials


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Your turn!

Go to http://scratch.mit.edu and look at

featured projects

Go back and try the examples I did Look for your turn in the presentation

Look over assignment ideas

Brainstorm with colleagues how to use thistool

Helene Martin - CS4HS 2010 - Creative Programming in Scratch

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