My son wants to be a video game programmer. Either that, or a Lego designer. He can’t decide which, and who knows, maybe he’ll design games for Lego. He recently found a program online which has nearly taken over his entire life—he absolutely loves it. It’s called Scratch, and it’s a site where older children and younger adults can program their own games.
Scratch was developed by MIT as a tool for educators to teach design skills, mathematical concepts, problem solving, and how to reason systematically. It’s used by kids as young as eight (and I would imagine, some who are a little younger) and some college-age students in their introductory computer classes.
It also gives the child a chance to learn Internet etiquette as he receives comments from other users on his projects and comments on those created by others.
I’ve been really amazed at the projects my son, and my other children as well, have been able to create using this software. It’s simple to use, but it’s not a little kid game – they are learning real computer programming skills. My son will ramble on for hours about “costumes” and “sprites” and other things he needs to build his creations, and he knows how to go in and adjust the codes to make different things happen. He’s also learning how to do computer animation, and many of the characters he uses on the site are completely created by him.
We live in a world that is dominated by computers, and it is becoming more so all the time. It’s crucial that our children know their way around computers and learn how to perform all the basic skills, such as typing, e-mailing, using the Internet, and so forth. Many of our children will enter fields that are much more complex and require deeper computer skills. Finding sites such as Scratch can help prepare them for the things they may face on the job front in years to come, especially with the advances in technology that take place every single day.
If you would like to check out the Scratch site, you can find it here.
And, not to brag or anything, but if you would like to look at my son’s projects, you can find them here. He goes by the name The Lego Sensei. Many of his creations are games that you can play, either by using the mouse or by manipulating the left and right arrows.
I’ve been really impressed by this site and commend MIT for coming up with this great way to introduce computer programming to youngsters.
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Online Resources for Homeschoolers