User friendly cause and effect programming

Submitted 11 years ago
My Rating
Pedagogy
Supports

My Take

Scratch is a free website/download where students can create interactive games and animations. It is surprisingly easy to "program" using Scratch. All parts that can be added to the program are drag and drop (actions, sprites, sounds). Students are able to upload their own images to use in their animated project. Students are able to experience cause and effect situations through using this application, and it definitely focuses on their critical thinking and problem solving skills.

How I Use It

I run a weekly online technology training for my students and, occasionally, have students present applications that they enjoy using and give examples of ways they can be used. Scratch has been the most popular program for student to present on because there is so much that can be learned using it and so many different ways it can be used..
We have used this in our Physical Science classes as students explored physics. They used the application to illustrate some of the physical laws. This app has allowed students to explore their own created "if this, then that" scenarios. We have also used the app in English classes as the illustrate scenes from works they have read. Many other classes have allowed this app as a presentation tool as the students present information from topics they have research for their class.
This app is an easy way for students to begin learning how to program, through a simple layout design.