STEM education requires computational thinking. Our children are living squarely in the digital age and need to be digitally fluent, which means reading and writing code. They need to be producers, not just consumers of digital information. By learning how to code, they learn how to think critically, by collaboration, they learn how to work together and piece together different solutions to a more elegant final product, and understand the design process.

1. Scratch dovetails easily into NGSS
Learn to Code; Code to Learn
Greg Beutler – Director of TechsCool.org

2. What Can Learning to Code Do for Students?
•Learn mathematical and computational ideas
•Learn process of design
•21st Century learning skills
-analyzing
-collaborating
-communicating clearly
-logical thinking
•In a meaningful and motivating context
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3. Computing Perspectives For Students
Perspective Description
Expressing Realizing that computation is a
medium of creation
“I can create.”
Connecting Recognizing the power of
creating with and for others
“I can do different things
when I have access to others.”
feeling empowered to ask
questions about the world
Questioning “I can (use computation to)
ask questions to make sense
of (computational things in)
the world.”
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4. C++ code Scratch Code
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5. Scratch by MIT
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How does Scratch Support STEM?
• Scratch language supplies a myriad of
learning tools to teach coding and creative
computing.
• Covers all major coding concepts
• Creative Computing
– supports the development of personal
connections to computing by drawing upon
creativity, imagination, and interests.

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How does Scratch Support
Computational Learning?
• Students explore games by creating projects
that define goals and rules.
• Students learn computational concepts of
conditionals, operators, and data
• Students learn computational practices of
testing and debugging code are highlighted.

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How does Scratch Support STEAM?
•Students explore the arts by creating projects
that include elements of music, design,
drawing, and dance.
•The computational concepts of sequence and
loops and the computational practices of being
iterative and incremental are highlighted.

9. “Along with the traditional thinking skills, it is now essential to add:
Many media, creating, making connections, approaching a subject
sideways, or solving a problem from the inside out– in other words, the
kind of thinking fluent enough to come up with the innovations the
future will demand”
-Marcus & Monday 2009
http://www.newworldkids.org/authors/
Collaboration with peers using research, critical review,
creating and presenting prepares students for a future of
innovation and creativity
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Collaboration is Essential

10. Scratch by MIT
Introduction Students are introduced to creative computing and Scratch,
through sample projects and hands-on experiences.
Arts Students explore the arts by creating projects that include
elements of music, design, drawing, and dance.
The computational concepts of sequence and loops, and the
computational practices of being iterative and incremental
are highlighted.
Stories Students explore storytelling by creating projects that include
characters, scenes, and narratives.
The computational concepts of parallelism and events and
the computational practices of reusing and remixing are
highlighted.
Games Students explore games by creating projects that define goals
and rules.
The computational concepts of conditionals, operators, and
data, and the computational practices of testing and
debugging are highlighted.
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11. Computational Concepts
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Concept Description
sequence identifying a series of steps for a task
loops running the same sequence multiple times
parallelism making things happen at the same time
events one thing causing another thing to happen
conditionals making decisions based on conditions
operators support for mathematical and logical expressions
data storing, retrieving, and updating values

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Computational Practices
Practice Description
being iterative and incremental developing a little bit, then trying it out, then developing some more
testing and debugging making sure that things work – and finding and fixing mistakes
reusing and remixing making something by building on what others – or you – have done
abstracting and modularizing building something large by putting together collections of smaller parts

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Computational Perspectives
Perspective Description
expressing
realizing that computation is a medium of creation
“I can create.”
connecting
recognizing the power of creating with and for others
“I can do different things when I have access to
others.”
questioning
feeling empowered to ask questions about the world
“I can (use computation to) ask questions to make
sense of (computational things in) the world.”

14. Computational Components in Scratch
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Variable
Loop
Random number
Conditionals

15. Computational Thinking
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16. The standards emphasize understanding of
concepts hands-on practices such as:
•defining problems
•asking questions
•designing investigations
•analyzing data
•using evidence to draw conclusions
Next Generation Science Standards for Today’s Students
Scratch dovetails easily into NGSS
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17. MIT’s Scratch supports
Proposed NGSS Standards for
5,6,7,8th Grades
ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to
determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences
among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that
can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification
of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be
achieved.
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NGSS using Scratch
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT
5.G.B.4
Geometry
Glide with cat on X
Glide with cat on Y
http://scratch.mit.edu/
projects/21016789/#edi
tor
Graph points on the coordinate
plane to solve real-world and
mathematical problems.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.G.A.1
Understand that the first number indicates
how far to travel from the origin in the
direction of one axis, and the second
number indicates how far to travel in the
direction of the second axis, with the
convention that the names of the two axes
and the coordinates correspond

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NGSS using Scratch

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• Like training wheels computer scaffolding enables
learners to do more advanced activities and to engage
in more advanced thinking and problem solving than
they could without such help.
(NRC, 2000, p.214)
• One of the best ways to introduce Scratch is to give
students a set of fun challenges that scaffold their
learning of basic concepts and skills.
• According to (Alber,2011) "Scaffolding is breaking up
the learning into chunks and then providing a tool, or
structure, with each chunk" (par. 2).
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Scaffolding

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• Start with an interesting and appropriate level
Scratch game, animation or project and break
it up into chunks(challenges or explorations).
• Provide support (teacher does student
watches/helps) and a challenge (student does
teacher watches/helps) for each chunk.
• Create objectives for each chunk.
• Challenges can be completed individually, in
pairs or groups.
7/27/2014 Stem_prinicipal_pitch_v2.ppt
Scaffold learning with Scratch:

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Dodge ball Game and Scaffolding
• Each challenge should be designed to introduce a new skill
or concept.
• Challenges should be sequenced from easy to more difficult
in a way where they build on each other to complete a
project (game, animation, story, etc.).
• Challenges don't always necessarily need to be done in
order.
• Solutions to challenges may differ.
We can break the dodge ball game up into 8 learning
chunks: screen position, direction, movement, random
movement, following the mouse cursor, sensing,
broadcasting, and broadcasting in action.

23. Dodge ball on Scratch
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Stem_prinicipal_pitch_v2.ppt
Dodge ball Game and Scaffolding
• Scratch Code• Screen Position
• Provide support by
introducing the
following: position
on the screen,
position variables,
• XY coordinate
system, and directed
numbers.

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Stem_prinicipal_pitch_v2.ppt
Dodge ball Game and Scaffolding
• Direction • Challenge
• Get the ball to say its
screen address(position)
using the following blocks:
• Provide support by
introducing the
following: sprite
direction

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Stem_prinicipal_pitch_v2.ppt
Dodge ball Game and Scaffolding
• Movement
• Challenge
• Get a ball to start at the middle top of
the screen and fall to the bottom,
and then bounce back up again. Use
these blocks:• Provide support by
introducing the
three motion blocks:
go to, glide, and
move.

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Learning is High,
when engagement is high

28. Educational Concepts
Reflecting: Design notebook question
Creating: About me
Reflecting: Design Process
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29. Educational Concepts
Reflecting: Design notebook question
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• Create a game of yourself that you could
represent through images or sound?

30. Educational Concepts
Creating: About Me:
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• Introduce students to the concept of the
interactive collage, a Scratch project that
represents aspects of themselves through
clickable sprites.
• Optionally, show a couple of different interactive
projects.
• Give students 35 minutes to work on their
projects, with the handout available to provide
guidance for blocks to experiment with.

31. Educational Concepts
Reflecting: Design Process
• Invite 2 or 3 students to share their projects
and encourage others to ask questions about
their design process:
– What was your inspiration?
– How did you do that?
– What did you get stuck on?
– How did you get unstuck?
– What are you most proud of? Why?
– What might you want to do next?
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32. Student Project
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33. STEM is FUN!
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34. STEM is critical for economic growth,
innovation, and employment.
Our future demands STEM!
Did you know that the number of high schools offering AP
computer science classes is down 35 percent since 2005?
Did you know that-- The U.S. Department of Labor estimates
that by 2020 there will be more than 1.4 million computing-
related job openings?
Did you know that--At current rates, however, only 30 percent
of those jobs can be filled with U.S. computing bachelor's
graduates?
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35. Thank You!
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Greg Beutler – Director of TechsCool.org
Ph:(714) 309-3092
greg@techscool.org