What do parents need to know about Scratch?

Scratch programming for teenagers. One of the most popular courses at the GoMother IT school is children’s programming with Skrech. Parents do not always understand what kind of program this is. That is why we decided to talk a little about what kind of programming language it is, where it came from and how it helps children become IT people.

A bit of history Scratch for kids

The name Scratch itself comes from the word scratching – this is a technique used by hip-hop DJs that twist vinyl records back and forth with their hands (you could see this in old films or on the Internet, today DJs work with slightly different equipment). Scratch was created as a continuation of the ideas of the Logo language and the beloved Lego constructor. First, let’s clarify that it is written in the Squeak language. A small team of programmers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is working on Scratch. The current version is 2.0, released on May 9, 2013.

What is Scratch programming for children created for?

Scratch was specifically designed to help kids learn animation, games, music, and animated images in a simple and visual way. Its main advantage is that programs are not written in code, but are made up of multi-colored blocks. Each block is a function to which its parameters are added.

Thus, the child gets acquainted with the basics of programming, learns to decompose tasks into component parts and think through steps to solve them. He also learns important mathematical concepts such as coordinates, changing variables, random numbers. These basic principles will help as you continue to teach programming to children – on the basis of the established foundation, it will be easier to build an understanding of computer syntax and more complex functions.

Teaching programming for teenagers with Scratch

Once a student has mastered the basic tools and tools of Scratch, they can create a working prototype for any of their ideas. Further work is no different from what adult developers do: you need to look for the causes of errors that occur, come up with ways to optimize, consult with “colleagues” and help them with their problems.

This allows children not only to gain technical programming skills, but also to learn the development process from the inside. The educational process is built in such a way that young course participants can create, communicate, analyze and collaborate.

All these skills will be useful to them, even if they do not connect their professional life with IT. Teaching programming to children forms the right approach to problems and gives an understanding of the technologies that form the basis of the life of a modern person.

Course for a child: Scratch programming for teenagers

The best gift for a student for the New Year is definitely a programming course! We do not have a banal theory, but a fun practice! See for yourself, we are waiting for you online!