I Should Be Marking

Freeware versions available for both Mac and Windows.

Scratch is a relatively new piece of software developed by MIT. It’s designed to introduce younger children to some of the fundamentals of computer programming and control using graphical commands that you can drag around.

The interface is somewhat reminiscent of Alice, for those that have tried it. Pupils simply drag in a command (handily organised into subcategories of Motion, Sound, Control [for loops, conditional statements, etc.] and so on) and double click to see what it does. There’s a great PDF on the site to get you started and I printed, cut out and laminated a load of Scratch Cards with quick instructions for different techniques for my Year 7s - who really seemed to love it.

For those who fancy a more cross-curricular bent it’s relatively straightforward for pupils to put together an animation to show a heart pumping, a river creating deeper S bends, an electric circuit switching on and off, etc…

There’s a comprehenisve gallery of existing projects on the website, so have a look and see what you think.

Hiatus: noun: A gap or interruption in space, time, or continuity; a break

Well, as the more observant amongst you may have noticed it’s been a wee while since I’ve posted anything.

Between an incredibly hectic Easter break and the culmination of a series of particularly unpleasant family events I’ve found myself a little distracted.

Before I knew it a month had gone and then it seemed hard to get back into it.
It was only a conversation with another colleague today that made me realise
how much I ’ve missed the opportunity top vent, rationalise, discuss and all the
other stuff that blogging is good for.

So, 2 hours of cleaning up spam comments later (apologies if I’ve deleted any genuine ones) and I’m back. You can expect normal service to resume momentarily and plenty more inane witterings over the coming weeks and months.

You poor souls!

Edit: Apologies for the dodgy line breaks but my editor is playing up
and not wrapping properly.