Category — Scratch Workshop

Scratch Day 2011 is approaching and that has me on the lookout for an event near me. I came across a fun game theme from the TechPlayZone in Riverview, Florida. The rules are simple, bring an original game, consisting of one sprite and one script to the event. The game and design must be original and it must be a win or lose theme.

Though I’m too far away from this event, I like the theme and the idea and will be filing this away in my workshop ideas.

Picoboards are a great way to extend Scratch’s interactivity and to stimulate Scratch projects. The Picobard can measure resistance, light, sound, button clicks, and slider position and communicate those values to Scratch for use in our computer programs.

In chapter 10 of Scratch 1.4: Beginner’s Guide, I walk through programming examples for each Picoboard function. However, I just found the Science Buddies website that includes a few science projects that incorporate Scratch programming and the Picoboard:

• Pinwheel Magic: Take a Spin with Animation
• Create Your Own Chemistry Color-analysis Tools

Looks like some fun and educational uses that I will file away for my next available need.

Click here for Picoboard on Linux installation information.

The ScratchEd site posted a short video showing Mitch Resnick leading a Scratch programming challenge, “Diving Deeper.” In the workshop, he hands out short instructions to the class, such as,”Whenever you click on the background, a flower appears at that spot.”

I like the bite-sized approach. Here’s a short video of a challenge in action.

Diving Deeper with Scratch:

You can view the entire Scratch programming challenge, here.