Would you like to learn a language to communicate with your computer? Would you like your children to "speak" that language?
Nowadays, children spend a lot of time using computers and other digital devices, but who exactly is in control? A child or a machine? Most of us would like our children to be a controller. You may ask how to do that. The answer is simple: children should learn another foreign language, a language of programming. Adults should learn it, too. Fortunately, programming is no longer available exclusively to professionals. Everyone can do it.
Thanks to Samsung Electronics Polska, Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej, Ośrodek Edukacji Informatycznej i Zastosowań Komputerów and Stowarzyszenie "Rodzice w Edukacji", 34 schools in Poland can take part in a pilot programme "Mistrzowie Kodowania" (Coding Masters). The idea of the programme is to teach 4th - 6th graders how to code in Scratch. It's a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab, so it's child-friendly. Scratch helps children develop 21st Century Skills, such as creativity, innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, communication and colaboration. And what is more, every educator can teach Scratch.
Mitch Resnick, one of the developers of Scratch, describes it in this way:
Mitch Resnick, one of the developers of Scratch, describes it in this way:
I'm so happy and proud to be a participant in the pilot edition of "Mistrzowie Kodowania" together with my colleague and friend, Marysia. We spent last weekend in Warsaw, learning Scratch. It was an amazing experience. I've discovered new abilities I did't expect to have. I've always loved Maths, but I've chosen to study languages. And now I've found out how to combine both.
As the title of this post says,
Scratch is a match for ... languages.
Here you can see print screens from what I've done in Warsaw:
My pupils also like scratch, we made short animations. I use it in ICT lessons.
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