#learningprogram

John Maloney, Kylie Peppler*, Yasmin B. Kafai*, Mitchel Resnick and Natalie Rusk

From this article, we can see that youth do not make the connection between Scratch and programming, which may help Scratch catch on and being in line with their identities. This made me think about the purpose of designing and applying Scratch for young people. How many children will choose CS class after learning about Scratch, and will their interests persist like exploring Scratch? To what extent does learning scratch help with learning CS?

When asked whether Scratch reminded the youth of anything at school, all of the youth said Scratch was at least like one school subject, and most cited several subjects that they thought connected to their experiences in Scratch.

This finding proves that Scratch can be connected to multiple disciplines and could be a great tool for connecting disciplines or facilitate learning. Scratch allows students to create their own experiences based on subject knowledge, which can further strengthen their impressions of it and facilitate learning.

While the mentors did not have any prior programming experiences – all of them were liberal arts majors –they were willing to listen and encourage youth in pursuing their programming projects.

Teachers do not need specific knowledge or skills to become a Scratch mentor. This shows that we do not need to train teachers to be experts in Scratch when we plan to apply Scratch in the classroom. Instead, we can train teachers in listening and encouraging skills to encourage students to solve problems on their own.

While mentors are often associated with being more knowledgeable than their mentees, here we found a more equitable relationship that turned both mentees and mentors into learners.

It’s also one of the few programming initiatives that successfully engaged both boys and girls –all of them youth of color.