Programming Concepts-Variables March 6, 2008
Posted by wagongrrl in General, Scratch.Tags: programming, Scratch, variables
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Variables are used in Scratch to store numeric information. You have learned about variables in Math, how they store or represent numbers that are unknown. A simple way to explain this is that variables store numbers that change over time. Think about a score in a game, or is your character has lives or strengths; these are numbers that change depending upon what else is happening in the program. Just like when you solve or balance an equation, if you change x, then y must change.
The example I showed in class was a simple race track with cars moving around and a variable that counted the number of times the car crossed the finish line (the number of laps).
Here are some race examples that students have created to demonstrate the concept.
Messages-Broadcast Command February 25, 2008
Posted by wagongrrl in Animation, Scratch.add a comment
So far we have looked at how sprites react to key presses or to touching other sprites or colors. This is okay if you are communicating with just one sprite, but what about having sprites communicate with each other, or even with the stage? Simple, you can have a sprite broadcast a message to another sprite (or stage).
The broadcast command is found in the control palette. One sprite broadcasts a message at a certain point in the program. You use the When I receive (message) to indicate where and when you want another sprite to do something. Here is a tutorial I found that illustrates the broadcast command. Take a look.
Here are some of the student examples: (Click on the ‘teacher’ sprite to make the dancer sprites start dancing)
Ashley
Shafique
Alex
Gary
February 08/ 3rd Marking Period Begins February 7, 2008
Posted by wagongrrl in Assignments, Scratch.Tags: projects, Scratch, student work
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If you haven’t handed your completed Scratch animation in to the hand-in folder, please do - that way I can post it on The Computer School website. I am also uploading projects to the Scratch MIT website, if you have nominations for what projects should be posted there, please let me know.
This week we start investigating programming concepts. The first one we will look at is SEQUENCE.
“In a sequence structure, an action, or event, leads to the next ordered action in a predetermined order. ”
Here are a couple of student examples from this week’s classwork:
Kaelyn
Omid
Scratch Animations Showcase! January 23, 2008
Posted by wagongrrl in Animation, Assignments, Scratch.Tags: assignment, Scratch, website
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I am in the process of posting the completed Scratch animations on the Computer School website. As students hand in their completed and peer reviewed files, I will post them to the website. Please take a look. You can also satisfy your peer-review assignment by reviewing one of the assignments from online, but you must fill out the peer-review sheet and turn it in for a grade.
Scratch Assignments December 11, 2007
Posted by wagongrrl in Assignments, Scratch.1 comment so far
We are starting our scratch assignments this week. There will be a choice of assignments that each student can complete. For each assignment you will be required to use a certain number of commands that are listed on each of the worksheets.
Assignment Worksheets:
- Animation : Choose a theme from “The Giver”. Create an animation using your own characters based on the theme.
- Maze: Create a maze where an endangered species must get away from predators, from environmental problems, from an inhospitable habitat.
- Math Game: create a game where the player must solve math problems to advance and win.
- Dice Game: Create a game where players roll the dice and play their turn. This can be a board game or other type of 2 player game.
- Colonial DressUp: Create a fashion show or a dress up doll that is based on colonial american clothing.
- Trivia Geography: Create a trivia quiz based on your geography knowledge.
I am collecting interesting Scratch projects from the Scratch website on this page. Take a look for some inspiration! You can also create your own login and password on the Scratch web site and save projects or upload your completed scratch assignments. The download for Scratch is free, you can use it on your home computer.
We Begin To Learn About Scratch This Week! December 4, 2007
Posted by wagongrrl in Animation, Scratch.1 comment so far
This week we will start a new section of the Animation Unit we are studying. We are going to use the program Scratch to create Dance animations. Before we begin the project, the class will spend a week or so learning the program. I would recommend that you look at the Scratch website and some of the projects created by others.
Scratch uses building blocks of code to get the characters, or Sprites, to move. Just like in Microworlds you program each sprite. We will begin by learning how to get the sprite to change colors and move around the stage.
