Scratch (from MIT, multimedia development for kids)

Students today have incredible access to media content via the computer; games, interactive stories, simulations, all types of dynamic content. However, these programs are generally one way use. Students can use, browse, click, and watch what other people have created, but they don’t have much opportunity to create there own content.

 

Scratch, created by the MIT Media Lab, gives students age 8 and up the opportunity to design and create on the computer. Scratch makes it easy to combine different media types together to make interactive creations. Scratch is a graphical programming language that lets the creator control the action and interaction of video, audio, graphics, and photos to make their own creations. If you don’t think the words “eight year old” and “computer programming” really go together, Scratch has changed that. There’s no C++ or Java, Scratch uses a new graphical programming language that makes it simple and easy to use. This graphical language is compared to LEGO bricks that snap together into stacks. The bricks or “blocks” are designed to fit together only in a way that makes syntactic sense.

 

Once a creation is complete it can be posted and shared on the Scratch website just like you would share a video on YouTube. You can also embed Scratch projects on a webpage, like your Facebook profile. You can also download other peoples’ posted projects to use in your own creations.

 

There are a number of research papers written about Scratch at http://scratch.wik.is/Research and you can download Scratch for free at http://scratch.mit.edu/. While you’re there you can check out projects that people have created using Scratch and find out much more information.