Scratch+Code+Jam!

Twitter: @DylanMRyder Scratch: dryd3418
 * Host**: Dylan Ryder, Ed Tech, The School at Columbia University

Bill Stites (MKA), Adam Schecter (Allen-Stevenson), Chris Kavanaugh, Dan Ristea (Nightingale-Bamford), Jack Mansager (Towne), Julia (Towne), Ian Klapper (City & Country), Darien Cruté (ECFS), Emin Kaunis (ECFS) others…
 * Attendees**: Please add your name if you attended… I forgot to take attendance :)

See examples of Projects/Games that I have my students build by visiting my Scratch Profile Page: dryd3418


 * What Can You Do with Students in Gr 2 - 6?**

Teach 2nd & 3rd graders to make interactive models & animations with Scratch. media type="custom" key="24986226"
 * Fraction Snooper ** : Link to the model and its **code**

Teach 3rd & 4th graders to make education-themed video games in Scratch. media type="custom" key="24986250"
 * Geometry Blaster**: Link to the game and its **code**

media type="custom" key="24986268"
 * Pong**: (not classically educational, but a great intro to making games; takes 45minutes to teach) Link to the game and its **code**

Teach 5th & 6th graders to connect Scratch code to sensors and input boards for physical computing and engineering activities. (Using LEGO WeDo sensors, Pico Boards, Makey Makey) media type="custom" key="24986274"
 * Scrolling and Controlling**: Link to the game and code

What is Computational Thinking? What are the essential Concepts of Computer Science that young students can learn and invent with?
 * Sequences
 * Lists of instructions
 * Events
 * One thing causing another thing to happen
 * Parallelism
 * Multiple sequences that happen at the same time
 * Conditional Statements
 * If/Then/Else
 * Loops/Iteration
 * Repeat, While
 * Variable/Data Structures
 * Numerical Values, Text Strings
 * Functions/Methods
 * Custom Algorithms made by the designer/coder
 * Messaging
 * Functions that pass values and instructions to each other
 * Computation/Mathematical Operations
 * Arithmetic (+, -, x, ÷), (>,<,=,), Logical Operators (and, or, not), plus more (sin, cos, mod, tangent, log, sort, …)

How much Computer Science can be taught to elementary school students through Video Game Design? //__short answer__: all of it//

Example Fractal Drawing Program: Link to the game and its **code** media type="custom" key="24986302"

Resources :
Book: [|Super Scratch Coding Adventure] Essay: [|Frameworks for Assessing Computational Thinking] By Karen Brennan & Mitch Resnick Site: ScratchEd - Lessons, Resources, and Discussions to help teachers use Scratch in the classroom

Snap: Online Scratch-like tool that will work on iPads. (Scratch is Flash-based and doesn't work in iOS devices) Enchanting: Scratch block coding that is compatible with LEGO NXT Robots Scratch 4 Arduino: A llows for simple programming of the Arduino micro controller.
 * Scratch Mods **:

Google Blockly: Drag-and-drop code editor from Google.