If I were teaching a Social Studies class, I would encourage students to use Scratch to create simulations and presentations about whatever they are studying. In the process, the students would learn more about the topic being studied, while also learning to communicate more effectively and think more systematically.
For example, a Scratch community member named Wodunne created a simulation of life on the island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) for a history class at school: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/Wodunne/68498
As others have mentioned, it is fairly easy to use Scratch to create multiple-choice quizzes. But I hope that teachers don't start using Scratch to make quizzes for their students. I think students will learn much more if they use Scratch themselves to create projects and express their ideas.
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True, but the learning intentions of the lesson should always be kept in mind - if the learning intentions are all "history" and no "ICT" then creating their own presentation in scratch may not be the best use of their time.
Combine it into cross-curricular learning, though, and you could do alot. My intention at some point is to use scratch to present a cross-curricular sequence of lessons on literacy, art and ICT.
- Write a story suitable for animation
- Draw suitable characters for the story
- Animate the story using Scratch.
It would not be hard to replace the first step with learnig about a historicla event, and then to make the task to present their own animation of that event.
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Mayhem wrote:
True, but the learning intentions of the lesson should always be kept in mind - if the learning intentions are all "history" and no "ICT" then creating their own presentation in scratch may not be the best use of their time.
Combine it into cross-curricular learning, though, and you could do alot. My intention at some point is to use scratch to present a cross-curricular sequence of lessons on literacy, art and ICT.
- Write a story suitable for animation
- Draw suitable characters for the story
- Animate the story using Scratch.
It would not be hard to replace the first step with learnig about a historicla event, and then to make the task to present their own animation of that event.
What if, instead of your story just portraying the actual events, students added stopping points where the viewer could choose an alternative history? For example, what would have happened if the American Constitution had not been ratified and the Articles of Confederation stayed as law, or what if the South had won the Civil War?
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I'm just pointing out that you risk your lessons becoming entirely involved with the technical aspects of scratch. Which might not be appropriate unless programming/control systems is part of your planned curriculum.
A student should not, for example, be in a position to get a worse grade in a history class because his scratch skills are not as advanced as a fellow student.
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