In Discovering Computer Science & Programming through Scratch, youth interact with a series of tutorials and challenges within the Scratch environment. Young people can work on the activities individually, with partners, or in a guided instructional setting. Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab.
- Discovering Computer Science & Programming through Scratch, Level 1—This curriculum introduces young people to five fundamental principles of computer programming, providing a foundation for exploring and creating. Student Notebook and Facilitator Guide also available.
- Discovering Computer Science & Programming through Scratch, Level 2—This book delves deeper into important principles of computer science such as generalization and modularity, and introduces some additional features of Scratch such as clones and lists. Going through this book should strengthen youth’s programming skills, help them write better programs, and provide interesting ideas for further exploration. Student Notebook also available.
- Discovering Computer Science & Programming through Scratch, Level 3—Focuses on an interesting, powerful, and important technique from computer science called recursion. A recursive program is one which “calls itself.” In Scratch, this means using a block for the script within the very script that defines the block. Recursion makes solving many problems easier, and also allows one to do some things that would be very difficult to do without it, such as drawing intricate fractals. Student Notebook also available.
Audience: Grades 6-8
