I am a software developer using C++, Java, and other programming languages. As a programmer, I had a high regard for programming languages and open source software. During my years of study, I was awed by Dennis Ritchie, Linus Torvalds, Brian Kernigham, and others. It was cool to hold the penguin and go around and cool to be known as a Linux programmer and open source contributor.
But, I must say, MIT has done an excellent job in coming up with Scratch. MIT Scratch helps thousands of kids around the world to explore the world of programming. I will go one step up and say that this invention is definitely on par with some of the large open source contributions in terms of the impact it created on this world.
Scratch is a simple block based programming tool for kids to drag and drop and not worry about the syntax too much. Young coders around the world have taken advantage of this platform to get into the tenets of programming such as structure and sequence, sprites, blobs, events, variables, conditionals, loops, functions, debugging, and more programming structures. Kids learn by doing multiple projects and get introduced to various key concepts on their way to building exciting stuff.
Examples of a few Scratch Projects – Explained Step by Step
- Understanding Events in Scratch
- What is a Sprite in Scratch
- How to make a Scrolling Background in Scratch?
- Making a Flappy Bird Game in Scratch
- Making a Math Quiz Game in Scratch
- Popular Games to Code in Scratch
- Teaching Binary Code using Music
- Coding a Maze Runner Game in Scratch
While kids start by learning block coding courses, it is also important for them to understand the overall scheme of computing devices and computer science. For example, today most children understand the basic parts of a computer, but they are also keen about how all of this happens in a small laptop or even a phone. They know that computers understand only 1s and 0s but they cannot relate to how logic gates become the multiplexers and program counters and how these circuits in turn become the processors.
At UnicMinds, no matter which course you take in coding, we democratically try to impart the basic foundational knowledge of computer science, enabling children to think as a computer-science enabled in everything they do from consuming a device to doing a transaction online. They will develop the thinking in possibilities and hence will understand and appreciate the behind the scenes work in all applications and use cases. This makes them more vigilant, smart, aware, and knowledgeable in terms of logical-thinking, device knowledge, mathematical applications, possibility thinking, and more.
Hope this is useful, thank you.
