As many
articles on the Internet state the educational benefit of game programming
extends beyond providing an easy and interesting introduction to programming.
Students learn through discovery about ICT, media and communication. This learning
occurs as the student reflects on their experiences and constructs a personal
understanding. It requires logical thinking, critical reasoning, problem
identification and solving skills and persistence.
“Learning how to
program in Scratch puts the learning completely in the hands of the students.
There are infinite paths a student could take with the program. There’s no way
that we, as teachers, can prepare for the direction that the student will head
towards” (Sprankle, 2013). This is true example “Problem Based Learning” and
“Just in Time” Teaching in action, allowing the students to become creators
rather than just consumers. There are many examples where teachers have been
using Scratch to empower student writing in areas such as poetry and narratives
(Fay, 2010).
As an ICT
Integrator but more importantly in this instance a practicing Infants Teacher,
I advocate the importance to get students interested in learning about STEM
topics before Years 4 & 5. I believe this because around this time children
begin to form opinions about what is “cool” or “not cool.” I want my students
to be engaged and develop a love of learning and this is why in my classroom I
use things such as Scratch to help kids to have fun with maths. It causes them to search for
the creative answer. Creativity is such a precious skill that we need to
promote to our students. With tools like Scratch, students are getting a fun
introduction to design thinking.
References:
Fay, L. (2010) http://digitalis.nwp.org/resource/715
Sprankle,
B. (2013) http://bobsprankle.com/bitbybit_wordpress/?p=3982