Monday 19th May (3rd Meeting)

This Monday we discussed how we can use the backdrop "XY GRID" in scratch (see image) to help understand how to move a character around
the screen using either the "goto" or "glide" blocks.  We discussed that moving requires use to use a number-line. The center of the screen is zero and moving to the right of the center uses positive numbers - we call this axis the X-axis.  To move to the left, we extend the concept of the number line to negative (minus) numbers, so that any negative numbers move the chaarcter to the left of the center.  We can further extend this concept in the up and down direction by rotating the number line in the up-down directions - postive number move us up, while negatve numbers move us down.  We call this the Y-axis.  This concept of a X annd Y axis (cartesian corodinates) is very powerful and is used not only for computer programing but for mathematics, engineering and geograpical sciences (for spaital analysis) .

Keep thinking about what kind of game or story you might create and try some programming to move your character around is a specific way.  Next week will will discuss how rotation works..

Building stories in Scratch (2nd Meeting -12 May)

12 May meeting.
Today we discussed what kind of game or project in Scratch we might make.  The idea is for students to create/storeyboard backdrops, characters, sounds and actions that might be used.  We can then look at how to achieve these goals in Scratch.  There is considerable breath in the skills of the students and lots for them to teach each other.

Some students have been using Scratch for some time and are very proficient at it.  For these student I will look at introducing the Arduino microcontroller and it's programming language (based on C).  For those really interested, follow the (windows) installation instructions for the Arduino here (if you haven't mastered Scratch yet I wouldn't try this yet).  Locally you can pick up an Ardiuino from Jaycar for ~AUD$40.  They are avaiable online (overseas) for around half this price - I will bring in some arduino boards (unos) next week for us to look at.

Keep programming :)

Update from 5th May (1st meeting)

Late update - last week (5th May) was our first official meeting.  It's clear many of the students have some advanced programming skills in Scratch and I'll be looking at some attactivities to push them.  The club is all about peer assistance, so as much as possible I'm trying to get the kids to learn from each other and share experiences.  I know some of the students want to show off what they have created, so I will fit in a time every 3 weeks or so for the best scratch project to be demonstrated to the club.  Hopefull this will allow everyone to understand each other's skills and to have ideas shared arround.  This week I'm hoping to discuss a concept each student can focus on, to make them ask "how do I do that in Scratch".  We'll try to discuss story boarding, backgrounds, characters and their abilitites.

I visted the first CoderDojo of the year at UWA this weekend.  This is a forum for teenagers to learn abotu programming (Scratch, HTML, Python).  I was happy to see that our format and the skills of some of our students are competitive with what's being done for students at the secondary school level.

For those at home: If you're following along with this blog and can't attend the club, think about a game you might want to make,  where is it set - draw out the setting on paper if you wish (you can later scan this image and upload to use as a background).  Think about you character - what do they do (shoot, hug, skip)... What sounds are made (bang, burp, meow) and what's the aim of the game ( get the aliens, find the easter eggs anything).  Once you have these ideas, we can think about what scratch can do to make it happen.  As much as possible we want to make our scenes,characters and sounds ourselves.  This is fun and avoids copyright issues - especially for those who are keen on "selling" their game:)