Week 30 - Project development (last day)

 CLASS OBJECTIVE

Finish the interactive animation you started last class.

ACTIVITY

Once again, gather together as a team to develope the selected project. 

• Don't try to change the project, you won't have time enough to create a new one.
• Instead, try to improve your procedures or add new ones. 
• You have the entire week to finish but, I'd like to supervise your work team in the classroom.
• Don´t forget to work in your document report.

Week 29 - Project development

 CLASS OBJECTIVE

Create the interactive animation to help with the selected problem's resolution. 

ACTIVITY

Gather together as a team to develope the selected project. All of you must think how to use Scratch to create a pedagogical tool to solve this schoolar situation.

• Use the listed examples from the last class to get ideas
• Use the pages on the top of this blog to learn more about Scratch, for example, user interaction.

Don´t forget to open your document report from the last class to fill it. Work as a team.

Week 28 - Final project: Introduction and Planning

CLASS OBJECTIVE

Define the final project and its required components for the summative evaluation by analyzing daily school needs, in order to create an interactive animation that provides solutions to those problems.

INTRODUCTION

This period, you'll be working on a team project: creating an interactive animation. The idea is to combine your creativity, programming skills, and teamwork to create something meaningful and useful.

Today’s session is all about exploring the project objectives, analyzing examples, and thinking about real problems we see at school.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Objective:

The goal of this project is for you and your team to create an interactive story in Scratch that helps solve a problem in your school environment. The problem can be anything that affects students or the school community—like learning math, using the keyboard properly, sorting trash correctly (plastic, organic, etc.), or any other issue you observe and think is important.

Stages:

The project will be developed over three weeks, each one focused on a different stage.
Today is Stage 1, where we will:

• Learn about the project
• Analyze examples
• Choose the problem your team wants to solve

Deliverables:

This session will have a specific task (or deliverable) that must be completed.
For today, your team will:

1. Choose a problem that is present in your school environment. (Name it)
2. Write a hypothesis that describes the problem
3. Include a short justification explaining why is important to help solve this problem.

Team Document

Your teacher will provide a template that your team must use to collect and organize all the evidence and work from each stage of the project.

LETS SEE SOME EXAMPLES OF INTERACTIVE GAMES IN SCRATCH

Here are a few examples of Scratch games that aim to solve real-life problems:

• Learn to multiply
• Math race
• Learn to Touchtype
• Learn about scratch
• Learn math
• Logic games

You can explore these and other gamesor animations on the Scratch website.
Remember: you can look at how these games are programmed, and if you find any game mechanics that could help in your own project, feel free to use or adapt them!

ACTIVITY

1. Form your team based on the number of members your teacher assigns, and sit together.

2. Discuss school problems you’ve noticed—things that make learning or daily life at school harder.

3. Choose one problem your team wants to work on.

4. Use the template provided by your teacher to write:

• Problem to solve:
• Describe what issue or challenge you observed at school.
• Example: First grade students don’t know how to do basic algebraic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division).
• Hypothesis (What do you think causes the problem?):
• We believe that… [who] + [what problem] + because… [possible cause]
• Example: We believe that first grade students don’t know how to do basic algebraic operations because they don’t practice enough or the practice is not interactive.
• Justification (Why is important to solve this matter?):
• Explain why this problem matters.
• Example: Learning basic algebraic operations is the foundation for more advanced math skills and helps students develop logical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

✅ If your team finishes early and still has time, ask the teacher about next stage. You may be allowed to start working on the next part of the project.

Week 27 - Scratch, Block programming

CLASS OBJECTIVE

Introduce block-based programming by creating a Scratch account and exploring its key features, such as sprites, stages, events, controls, motion, sounds, appearances, and more.

INTRODUCTION

BLOCK-BASED PROGRAMMING

In this course you learned to program using different programming styles, like flowcharts (Raptor) and a didactic programming language (PseInt). Now you'll be introduced to block-based programming.

Block-based programming uses visual blocks instead of writing code with text. These blocks fit together like puzzle pieces, making it easier to understand programming logic without needing to memorize syntax. It is very common in educational environments, such as Scratch, Blockly, or App Inventor, because it helps beginners (especially children and young people) learn the basic concepts of programming.

• Events
• Sequences
• Conditionals
• Loops
• Variables

Each block represents an instruction or control structure, and by dragging and connecting them, the program is built.

Events

In block-based programming, an event is an action or situation that triggers or activates a block of code. In other words, the program starts executing certain instructions when that event occurs.

Movement, Sounds, and Looks

These are essentially the actions that objects will perform when the conditions are met, or when the user decides.

Stage and Objects

Programming in Scratch is often compared to animation, whether pre-programmed or interactive with a user. To achieve this, it is necessary to have a background (stage) and objects (sprite) that perform movements, change appearance, or play sounds.

Control

These are the blocks that manage the flow of the program. They can easily be compared to traditional programming structures such as decision-making and loops, among others.

Variables

As in any programming environment, the need to store data requires the use of variables, which are memory spaces labeled to store information related to the execution of a program.

Operators

Like variables, mathematical, text, and comparison operators are necessary for the execution of programs. With them, we can analyze and compare numerical information required for the execution of a program, even in a graphical environment.

SCRATCH ACCOUNT

Before you can star using Scratch, you have create an account in the next Web Address.

https://scratch.mit.edu/

Once in, follow the next steps:

1. Click on the "Join Scratch" button.
2. Create your user_name using your student number, name and second name. 12345JosePerez
3. Select México from the list.
4. Add your birth month and year.
5. Now your gender
6. Write your school email address. a12345@idec.edu.mx
7. Validate the process by opening your email account

Now, you're ready to start using Scratch. Use the CREATE menú to start programming.

Now, follow your teacher instructions to create your first program.

CLASS NOTES

As usual, write down the class title, the class objective, and answer the following questions:

1. What are the differences between the Raptor, PseInt, and Scratch programming styles?
2. Can you name at least three elements used in Raptor, PseInt, and Scratch?
3. What is completely new to you in Scratch?