Scratch: defined by its producers at MIT,
“Programming language aimed at children that let them create their own interactive stories, games, music, and art.”
Specifically, Scratch is an application that allows students to mix media to create. In the article, From SuperGoo to Scratch: Exploring creative digital media production in informal learning, Scratch is cited as just one of many tools that speaks to urban youth, and meets the goals of media educators.
Media educators? My first thought was that this article really did not apply to my job as a kindergarten teacher. Likewise, the majority of my cohorts in continuing education at Seattle Pacific University agreed. However, upon reading more into the article, I realized the purpose was to do more than simply suggest that today’s youth are participating in using multi-media; they are producing it! If you can agree that creative, digital media is going to be a large part of our future, than as an educator, you too should realize the importance of educating tomorrow’s future leaders. Yes, teachers and parents alike are responsible for exploring creating ways of gaining your child’s interests, as well as providing them with the early building blocks that will provide them with the skills to produce.
Produce multi-media? Well, it’s about more than producing media mixes. If you can imagine it, you can produce it. If you can produce it, you can share it. Scratch provides a format in which kids are familiar. Using the background knowledge they have acquired in other subject areas, Scratch allows them to create a project that will be both meaningful to you and to them. At the same time, they will be investing in their future, and creating something that will too interest their peers.
Can Kindergarteners really use Scratch? Training students to use a new application can be challenging, though I’ll wager this concern can be resolved easily. Although Scratch is intended for students ages 8 and up, my class of 5 and 6-year-olds could easily use this application. My half-day kindergarteners spend 30 minutes a week, in a computer lab with a 1:1 ratio of computers to students. The first several months of the school year will need to be reserved for exploration, paired with modeling, by the teacher, in class. After viewing the tutorial, and exploring the Scratch website, I began thinking about the different media projects that could be created using scratch, and how I might relate them to my kindergarten classroom.
The Three Little Pigs – scratched The classic story of The Three Little Pigs is one of our first projects at the beginning of the kindergarten year, Our exploration of various versions of the story include comparing the similarities and differences between different author’s versions, as well as the characters’ houses, the characters themselves, and ultimately how the story ends.
The Scratch Gallery boasts a number of impressive projects containing retells of The Three Little Pigs. Due to the relevant reading age of the story, the majority of the projects I found were too created by kindergarteners or first grade students. The pictures, videos, and sound clips, were all examples of things I am already doing with my students. Scratch, however, provides an avenue for putting it all together, and sharing it with others. Meanwhile, students are developing proficiency in the kindergarten technology standards.
