Scratch course new upgrade

This is the third upgrade of a Scratch introductory course and a substantial one at that.

In my previous upgrade I developed some good projects but I gave too much of the code to the students. The problem with that of course is that copying for quite a few students doesn't produce learning. So, this time around I'm providing lots of clues and expecting them to work out how to put the blocks together. Of course, I'll do demonstrations for those who want more clues. I'm hoping this will encourage more trial and error and will end up with more diversity in their project solutions.

I'm keeping the core idea that Scratch multimedia coding is for telling stories in an interesting and entertaining way.

I'm insisting on more collaboration than in the past. For a couple of these projects a requirement is that students choose a partner.

I only teach these Year 7 students for 2 x 55 min periods for 9 weeks so it's not possible to cover all of the many great features of Scratch in that time. For those who work more quickly I do have extension projects planned, either letter magic, my music or make a game

Below I just show the tasks set for the students, not the preparatory clues. Send me a message if you want the full worksheets, I'm happy to share

So, the stories are:

1) Weird animals

Make your animals look and behave weirdly. Do at least two different weird animals.

eg. a cat that thinks it is a dog and barks. It also has it body parts rearranged.

But don’t copy that, use your own imagination and creativity!

2) Animate and Communicate

Choose a partner for this one

Think of a simple story. You will need to choose two sprites. The first sprite moves in some way and talks. The second sprite waits until the first sprite has finished and then responds by moving and talking.

a) Write an outline of your story using words and pics on paper and show the teacher. You will receive more credit if your story is interesting and entertaining!

b) Now develop the story as a Scratch program

3) Glide and Draw with the Pen

a) Get the graph paper with a Cartesian grid from the teacher and draw your initials on the paper

b) Use that as a guide to draw your initials on the Scratch page

4) Teleport

A character teleports from one place to another. On arrival in the new place something surprising happens. Work with your partner to develop this story Make it entertaining.

5) Sensing

Make a sprite do something strange by moving the mouse

At certain mouse positions the sprite talks to the user about what is happening. This varies in different positions.

Include a two colour gradient background

Previous:
scratch course upgrade
introductory scratch projects with a story theme