Scratch

Penguinsrock wrote:

jcv1235 wrote:

i don't know about that, 3-6 year olds don't really under x and y axis and i don't think it would be right for that age. I'm thinking 7-15 year olds should be using scratch. Kid pix is a better tool for that age group

I agree, but if there is a "knowledged" 6 year old, that could be possible, and I heard of college students being tought Scratch or tought by using Scratch. I'm 9, and I'm practicly a pro! It will be extremely tought to teach 3-5 year olds, the younger one's will barely be able to read it. It's hard enough to teach grades 4-7(8-13 year olds). I should know, I'm teaching too!

u call urself a pro?? no offense i dont think so, i think i'm closer to being a pro then u, and i wouldnt even call myself that good

I have moved my smallest (5 years old) in reverse from using scratch, to lego star wars and on to lego batman and now finally real lego and I take the point about getting them to play with real games !

Also KidPix is a better drawing tool but my 5YO loves scratch (partly because he wants his daddy to approve) but he sticks to creating projects with loads of sprites - he loves drawing and copying sprites. I try to encourage him to make them move but he does not really like it.

I do not bother with the X-Y Axis but use the MOVE 10 and TURN 30 commands only so that if they need to turn a corner they can put in 3 TURN 30. This turns moving around into TURTLE graphics which is relative to the sprite and does not need them to understand the X and Y axis. They soon learn that 90 degrees is a corner. Later you can explain X and Y by getting them to look at the coordinates of the sprite and move it around the stage and learn by observation.

We also do some scrath as a family to create greetings cards where all the family help. Younger ones like the graphics/story area rather than the games type projects I feel.

So my view is that 4YO like to draw, 5YO can be encouraged to help make greetings cards (with their older brothers or sisters) and use turtle graphics. They also like any games with a pokemon in. The problem I have is how to motivate them futher. My wife teaches 7YO in class and they love Scratch and that is what is is designed for.

Last edited by redware (2009-03-23 07:07:36)

golfer3 wrote:

Penguinsrock wrote:

jcv1235 wrote:

i don't know about that, 3-6 year olds don't really under x and y axis and i don't think it would be right for that age. I'm thinking 7-15 year olds should be using scratch. Kid pix is a better tool for that age group

I agree, but if there is a "knowledged" 6 year old, that could be possible, and I heard of college students being tought Scratch or tought by using Scratch. I'm 9, and I'm practicly a pro! It will be extremely tought to teach 3-5 year olds, the younger one's will barely be able to read it. It's hard enough to teach grades 4-7(8-13 year olds). I should know, I'm teaching too!

u call urself a pro?? no offense i dont think so, i think i'm closer to being a pro then u, and i wouldnt even call myself that good

Stop it golfer! I bet you haven't seen any of my good projects!

My five year old and I talk about game creation - programming - I show him what I am working on. His reading skills are a little weak but I may use scratch to help improve them.

He plays chess has since he was 4 2/3 and he did beat his 11 year old niece - he's a great problem solver and wants to me like me (he's young what does he know).

Well I did it - scratch is on his PC - he's playing with the movement commands and laughing his head off.

I think that if you put your best foot forward you will succeed in helping little kids use scratch.

Give him a simple project setup a loop and show him how to

run the project
Drop a movement block iin
Drag a sprite back to the center

Chess with a 5 year old is interesting - mine beat his 11 year old niece (and yes I can't stop bragging on him)

bosox397 wrote:

golfer3 wrote:

Penguinsrock wrote:

I agree, but if there is a "knowledged" 6 year old, that could be possible, and I heard of college students being tought Scratch or tought by using Scratch. I'm 9, and I'm practicly a pro! It will be extremely tought to teach 3-5 year olds, the younger one's will barely be able to read it. It's hard enough to teach grades 4-7(8-13 year olds). I should know, I'm teaching too!

u call urself a pro?? no offense i dont think so, i think i'm closer to being a pro then u, and i wouldnt even call myself that good

Uh, if anyone is a pro, its ME!!! no lol if anyone is a pro its paddle2see but anyway, to the point of this post, No i don't think scratch is rite for that age. the youngest I think you should be is 8. even thats a little young in my mind, but wat do i know? im only 12

Everyone is "pro" in their own way.

I don't think it's gonna work...
But if you're really thinking of doing it, you should try to teach them VERY slow..

Roberth wrote:

I'll have to add my own experience at introducing this to my children, ages 4-13.  While my teenager may be more capable of using something more like a real programming language like C++ or C#.  Still, he has had quite a bit of fun working with scratch and has made some interesting little projects.

What I find interesting is my 4 year old and his slightly older sister who is 6.  My 6 year old is bright enough and with what she has picked up in Kindergarten has been able to make some very simple Scratch projects... usually with quite a bit of assistance but she still can get some interesting things done.  I'm going to see if I can spend a bit more time with her this summer on developing some of these projects in more depth.

My 4 year old is mainly playing with Scratch because his siblings are so much into trying different things out that he wants to get in on the action.  He is acting as a "beta tester" for his older siblings and has had fun using the sprite painting tool, pulling up different costumes, and filling the screen with some of his favorite pictures (he is really into automobiles and modes of transportation).  Some of the screens he produces do look like a 4-year-old designed them, but as a father I find it quite interesting to see how comfortable he is with using computers and getting the tasks he wants to accomplish up and running.  Let's just say that I won't let him have root access to the hard drive 

I could see that an educator or parent could also put together some simple learning activities using Scratch that would help reinforce some basic learning concepts such as counting exercises or matching colors.  My experience with most educational software ideas aimed at this age group (3-6 year olds) is that it tends to have far too much "entertainment" value and doesn't really concentrate on real thinking skills.  This isn't to say that such software can't be fun, but they are aiming for selling their products to parents, not necessarily trying to reach any sort of value for the kids themselves.

I know AppleScript(it's a real easy text language) and I know how to do a tiny bit of C

tell application "Terminal"
    activate
    do shell script "open http://scratch.mit.edu/users/frogger3140"
end tell
end

This script launches Terminal and opens my userpage. It works.

Last edited by frogger3140 (2009-05-29 18:03:39)