This is a read-only archive of the old Scratch 1.x Forums.
Try searching the current Scratch discussion forums.

#1 2010-02-01 14:32:41

hieronimus
Scratcher
Registered: 2010-02-01
Posts: 2

Scratch and computer games

Hi there,
I run a couple of small businesses in the UK (one a training and consultancy company, the other a technical bookshop/toyshop that sells educational books and toys and robotics kits.)
I also attend a Quaker meeting ( in Guildford in SURREY in the UK ).
I am occasionally asked to run some of the "children's classes".
A few months ago I ran a couple of classes on robotics which were well received, and I have now been asked to run some computer games programming classes.
The kids that will come will be in the age range 8 to 12 with possibly a few younger ones and a few older ones.
Obviously I can't use some of the advanced computer games programming techniques that I teach in some of our training courses and since I have dabbled with Scratch  I though that it might be a good starting point. Alice looks a bit too difficult to start with and Pippy is to Pythonish (even though I adore Python and have had great fun teaching some fairly "scary" and "somewhat esoteric" Python courses).
Any advice and suggestions would be helpful.
Also if there are any "Scratchers" out there in the UK I would love to hear from you.
If there are any "Scratchy Quakers"  I would love to here from you also.
If you might be interested in bringing some of your children to the classes then also do get in touch with me and I will ask the "elders" of our meeting about how to go about it.
The children's classes are about "having fun", "being aware of the needs of others" and "working together" creatively and in a "togetherly" way.

Thanks Cheddar Girl for your advice ...
Have filled out ScratchED form ...

Thanks SOScratch ... I think that sometimes there is no avoiding hard work to achieve something useful ...  The quest to provide simpler and simpler interfaces to carry out complex tasks may end up stifling creativity ... e.g. the wonderful Microsoft technology and frameworks are fine as long as you are trying to do the kinds of things these frameworks support ... However, as soon as you try to do something that deviates significantly from this life can become very complicated.

I ran an Arduino programming workshop some weeks ago ... many Arduino enthusiasts find that they can build various projects and adapt existing sketches, but, when it comes to trying to build and program something innovative they discover that "real world" programming skills are needed.

Last edited by hieronimus (2010-03-26 13:34:17)

Offline

 

#2 2010-02-01 14:36:59

cheddargirl
Scratch Team
Registered: 2008-09-15
Posts: 1000+

Re: Scratch and computer games

Hey hieronimus, since you're interested in helping to teach others about Scratch, you may be interested in the website ScratchED which is better geared towards teaching others about Scratch.  smile


http://i.imgur.com/8QRYx.png
Everything is better when you add a little cheddar, because when you have cheese your life is at ease  smile

Offline

 

#3 2010-02-01 20:03:17

SOScratch
Scratcher
Registered: 2010-02-01
Posts: 100+

Re: Scratch and computer games

I think that scratch is good but not a whole lot. You know why? Because it is hard to make stuff there and that is because of all the hard calculations you have to make. Some have an easy time at stuff like scratch and then others struggle. Some are quite not that ready for things like this but some are professi<point towards( onals.


-SOScratch
Scratch On!

Offline

 

Board footer