Overview
This course is designed to be hands-on, with each concept reinforced through interactive exercises.
Students gain practical experience by applying what they learn in real-time, making the learning process engaging and dynamic.
Introduction to Scratch Programming
Topics Covered:
- Scratch Interface
- Getting familiar with the Scratch interface
- Sprites and Backdrops
- Choosing and customizing sprites and backdrops
- Code Categories
- Basic Coding
- Writing and running simple code snippets
- Adding Delays
- Using the “wait” block appropriately
Sample Exercises:
- Costume Change
- Make a sprite change its costume on click
- Sequential Actions
- Sprite performs two actions in order
- Sprite Creation
- Costume Customization
- Edit colors of a duplicated costume
- Experimenting
- Try out blocks in Motion, Looks, and Sound
Loops, Conditionals, and Operators
Topics Covered:
- Loops
- “Forever”, “Repeat”, and “Repeat Until”
- Randomization
- Default Variables
- Working with Scratch’s built-in variables
- Conditional Logic
- Using “if”, “if-else”, and nested conditions
- Combining Loops and Conditionals
- Operators
- Comparison and logical operators
Sample Exercises:
- Pattern Movement
- Help your sprite move in a fun pattern using different loops.
- Bouncing Sprite
- Make your sprite bounce off walls like ping-pong ball using conditionals.
- Growing Sprite
- Program your sprite to grow big like a balloon until it reaches a set size
Keyboard & Mouse Events, Timers, and Messaging
Topics Covered:
- Keyboard Events
- Triggering actions with key presses
- Mouse Events
- Using mouse hover, follow, and click
- Text Input
- Capture and display text from the keyboard
- Timers
- Integrate timed actions into your code
- Messaging
- Communicating between sprites using broadcast
- Broadcast vs Broadcast and Wait
Sample Exercises:
- Jumping Sprite
- Make a sprite jump up on spacebar key press
- Interactive Menu
- Display a menu with options. Change color of a menu item when hovered over.
- Sprite Conversation
- Create an interactive conversation between two sprites by sending messages back and forth
Variables
Topics Covered:
- What are Variables?
- Understanding how data is stored
- Managing Variables
- Creating and modifying them
- Block Variables
- Creating custom blocks with parameters
- List Variables
- Storing and working with multiple values
Sample Exercises:
- Product Calculator
- Take two user inputs (numbers), calculate and display their product
- Grocery List
- Allow the user to add or remove items from the grocery list using input. Continuously prompt the user until they choose to quit
- Move Block
- Create a custom “move” block that moves a sprite according to step size and move angle parameters.
|