Chapter 19: Learning to Code in Scratch - Part 2

Chapter 19: Learning to Code in Scratch - Part 2

Date: 27th June 2024 - Thursday  2:21 am & Saturday  29th June 5:02 am

This is also a very interesting post about teaching coding skills in Scratch to the amazing learners at Ranaa Child Welfare Foundation, which is a school for street children in Peshawar. In these days the learners learned how to animate their names in Scratch and practiced creating a scoring game in Scratch. This is a little more challenging and requires understanding of the code. It was good to see the learners eager and keen to learn coding. Coding actually provides opportunity for creativity and enhances perseverence and grit in learners. It enables them to make mistakes and keep practicing to find the right solution. They learn at their own pace.

The lesson started with demonstrating how to animate names. I demonstrated using my laptop how to animate the different letters in the first name. This included adding sprites, changing backgrounds, adding movement to sprites, changing size of the sprites, adding sound and changing color of the sprites randomly. The students were able to add sprites from the gallery, change background, add sound from the gallery with a little practice. They could increase and decrease the sound of the sprites. They tried animating the first letter and then it was easy. They had to add a similar code to the remaining letters in their first name. Almost all students were able to animate at least a few letters in their names. I did observe they tend to forget the code, but it's fine since the more they practice, the more they will remember.

They all had access to individual laptops so they could practice easily. Charging was not an issue and the laptops were on charge almost all the time. There is WIFI access on all laptops and that is a huge blessing since Scratch is not available offline. And it needs a good internet connection to program and code in Scratch. I am thankful to Ranaa for this opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with the amazing learners who are actually deprived of these resources and quality education. If they can even learn a little that would mean a lot. 

In the next class they revised and practiced animating their names or at least a few letters in their names. It was good to see that some students already remembered it. One of the group of girls had missed the lesson about animating their names. I demonstrated on their laptop and guided them along the way in class. After some practice they were able to animate the letters in their names. They still need practice.

The other group learned about creating a score game using a variable score. This was difficult and challenging, they had to add different sprites, change background and add score. This was easy , the challenging part was to move the sprite to a random position and once it was clicked the sound would automatically increase by a certain number. Students learned how to create a new variable, and assign it to their sprite. They added code to move the sprite to a random position on the screen. When this sprite was clicked using the pointer the score increased automatically. I observed the students struggling with the code for a while but then with some guidance and help from tutorials they were able  to create their own games.

I did suggest they start thinking of creating their own games using a different sprite and background. I did suggest ideas like a cat / mouse game, where the cat catches the mouse and the score increases. The second idea was a rabbit catching the carrots, and every time the rabbit caught the carrot the score should be increased. Another idea was to create a football game where when a player kicks a football, the score is increased, this could be a bat and ball game too. It could be an octopus eating the fish or a whale eating smaller fish etc. There could be dozens of creative games that students can actually create in Scratch only if they think out of the box. And it is very challenging for these learners because in real life they are never given an opportunity to think creatively and innovatively, not even in their schools. The schools focus more on memorising concepts without understanding at times. I had asked students to think of a creative idea to make their own game in the next class.

The next class was interesting as students did think out of the box and came up with their own creative ideas for making a game in Scratch. I demonstrated to students how to create a game in Scratch that uses arrow keys to play. I also suggested they add more sprites to add a difficulty level in their games. It was challenging. The students were able to create some wonderful games. They could open the tutorials and follow the instructions. They also found out how to drag code from one sprite to another. Though I suggested they type the code themselves so they understand the meaning. Also they needed a nudge but they were able to create some unique games. 

One of the students came up with the idea of catching apples in a bowl, the bowl glided sideways and every time an apple was caught the score was increased. Another student made a rocket and started a game. Every time the rocket touched the star, the score was increased and the student was mindful enough to change the background to a galaxy. Another student made a game where an octopus was catching the fish in water. Every time the octopus caught the fish the score was increased. The background looked like an ocean or under sea water. It was good to see the students coming up with different ideas.

Also it is challenging to code in Scratch and meant a lot to see the students making an arrow key game. It needs practice to play the game on a laptop using four arrow keys. They learned different blocks of code , which includes adding variables with a score, adding a key pressed event for arrow keys, and a sensing code for sprites in the game. They added forever loops to keep the game going and learned how to set the score zero every time the game started. This was new for them. I would want them to practice creating games either using arrow keys or click methods. It builds a lot of patience, resilience and grit in students. They learn from mistakes and write the code again.

Overall a great learning experience. Enjoy reading till my next blog post soon InnShaaAllah.

Regards and prayers

Sheeba Ajmal