Project-based Learning with Scratch

Project-based Learning with Scratch
Jared O'Leary
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In this episode I introduce approaches to using Scratch for project-based learning, including backwards, inquiry-based, and emergent project designs.

  • I've had the privilege over the years to

    work with every single grade

    kindergarten through doctoral students

    and a variety of contexts that often

    include Project based learning today's

    podcast uses slides from my csta

    presentation this summer to talk about a

    Continuum of Project based learning that

    you can use with scratch know that all

    of the resources all describe are

    available for free at Jared .com/srobiyt

    learning looks like but here's a quote

    that summarizes an approach to pbl that

    resonates with me quote Project based

    learning is built on the idea that real

    life problems capture student interest

    and provoke critical thinking and

    develop skills as they engage in and

    complete complex tasks that typically

    result in a realistic product event or

    presentation to an audience end quote

    quote scholar John W Thomas describes

    Project based learning as one Central to

    the curriculum two organized around

    driving questions that lead students to

    encounter Central Concepts or principles

    of a disci iine three focus on a

    constructive investigation that involves

    inquiry and knowledge building four

    student driven in that students are

    responsible for making choices and for

    Designing and managing their work and

    five authentic by posing problems that

    occur in the real world and that people

    care about end quote projects can occur

    along a Continuum from what I describe

    as fixed projects on one end to open

    projects on the other end so fixed

    projects are where everyone creates the

    exact same project so on the screen if

    you're able to see it is a bunch of

    different trees and they have very

    similar color palettes there is a single

    tree in the center that tree has a bunch

    of branches there's a circle coming out

    of it pixelated background etc etc all

    the projects have the same central idea

    and the main features to it there's just

    some subtle variations between them now

    on the open end of the Continuum we have

    a art wall that has a bunch of different

    paintings and whatnot and drawings where

    everybody is able to create their own

    unique project so somebody's created a

    hot air balloon or a snake or a house or

    some abstract art Etc this metaphor can

    apply to scratch projects or any kind of

    computer science project to be honest so

    for example a project near the fixed end

    of the Continuum might include criteria

    to create a game with the player Sprite

    three different enemy Sprites at least

    two different conditional statements and

    at least one variable that keeps track

    of a score projects with similar

    criteria are easy to assess and evaluate

    using rubrics or check sheets throughout

    or at the conclusion of the projects on

    the other end of the project Continuum

    open-ended projects might be guided by

    questions such as can you create a

    school appropriate project that helps

    someone is scary funny exciting boring

    musical silly relaxing or colorful that

    solves a problem you see in the world

    reminds you of a special event story or

    place or that you can give as a gift to

    someone else or that you might use in

    another class in open-ended projects

    there might be very little to no

    explicit criteria mandated by a teacher

    or facilitator as the projects are often

    proposed by the kids who create them

    such an approach to Project based

    learning can be difficult to assess

    evaluate or even facilitate however the

    projects are often more meaningful than

    cookie cutter projects that do not take

    individual interest into consideration

    Pro tip note the use of school

    appropriate in the prompt I would highly

    recommend inserting those two words in

    your project criteria or prompts for any

    kind of project if the young coder

    proposes something that is questionable

    you could ask whether other people would

    consider that project school appropriate

    for example asking if a principal a

    younger sibling or even an older

    relative another teacher Etc would find

    the project appropriate for class now in

    the middle end of the Continuum is what

    I refer to as flexible projects that are

    often created in collaboration between

    teacher and student or as a mixture of

    both fed criteria and open exploration

    so for example what type of project can

    you create that includes at least two if

    then blocks and at least one variable

    this project is a reframing of the

    previous game example that includes the

    concepts of conditionals and variables

    however it leaves it open for the coder

    to determine how they apply those

    Concepts in the project which might not

    be a game for example someone could

    create a Choose Your Own Adventure story

    with the same criteria as another

    example how might you create a game that

    keeps track of a score this particular

    prompt asks coders to create a game that

    might require a coder to use variables

    however it leaves the rest of the

    project wide open it could be a single

    player game multiplayer a spooky game A

    Space Adventure Etc rather than phrasing

    projects as questions you could also

    phrase them as statements or prompts for

    example storyboard and create a

    superheroin project that uses several

    different events blocks this quick

    example highlights the practice that you

    might use when engaging in coding

    projects with scratch when creating

    storyboards for projects like the

    superheroin project you could use

    storyboard questions as prompts to get

    coders to break down their project into

    manageable chunks for example asking

    about what Sprites will appear in a

    superheroin project thinking through the

    kinds of superpowers or technology the

    Sprites will use explaining how the

    superheroin will save the day and

    thinking through different kinds of

    algorithms to create such actions and

    potential interactions as a quick way to

    assess understanding of a storyboard you

    can ask coders to highlight different

    parts of their storyboard with the color

    green to indicate that they already know

    how to do something use yellow to

    highlight sections they might have

    questions about for you or for a peer

    and use red to indicate that they know

    what they want to do but they don't know

    how to do it so this practice can make

    it super easy to facilitate and prepare

    for Project based learning using

    storyboards while storyboarding might be

    helpful for young coders who are working

    on a project I'd like to now discuss

    some Frameworks for teachers interested

    in developing projects for example

    Tobias Campbell and Greco suggest

    choosing a worthy topic that is not only

    interesting to students but has long

    lasting value and meets curriculum

    requirements next they suggest situating

    learning within real world context and

    positioning students as potential

    participants and contribut ERS to

    different coding practices they next

    encourage creating generative questions

    which are driving or essential questions

    that are open-ended not easily solved

    can generate multiple Pathways of

    learning encourage deep thinking

    encourage thinking across subject

    matters create a need to know and

    provide relevant and meaningful context

    for learning the fourth step involves

    developing critical thinking and

    cultivating dispositions for example

    incorporating multiple perspectives when

    designing or creating a project learning

    how to ask questions or make informed

    decisions determining how parts and

    holes are related or comparing

    contrasting and predicting identifying

    what is not known and engaging in play

    or experimentation Gathering and

    synthesizing relevant information to

    solve problems and combining Knowledge

    and Skills across disciplines the fifth

    step they recommend for teachers or

    facilitators is to determine the depth

    and breadth of a project by asking

    questions such as how ready are the

    students for Project based learning how

    comfortable am I with it how can this

    project work with the existing school

    schedule finally they recommend

    designing the experience by sketching

    out A Narrative of the project

    experience that includes the kinds of

    concept skills and generative questions

    that will guide such an experience if

    you want to hear more of my thoughts on

    this approach to Project based learning

    check out episode number 194 of the CSA

    podcast which is titled bringing

    curriculum to life enacting Project

    based learning in computer science

    programs this spends another 30 minutes

    unpacking this paper that I've just been

    talking about although this approach

    might be helpful I'd like to briefly

    highlight three more Frameworks for

    Designing projects but I want to

    explicitly state that this is not an

    exhaustive list as I don't mention

    approaches such as problem-based or

    design-based projects which are

    sometimes more frequently discussed in

    computer science education a backward

    design approach to projects or curricula

    has been around since the mid 20th

    century however the book titled

    understanding by design by Wiggins and

    mcai has recently popularized such an

    approach with their own spin on it a

    backward design approach of projects

    tends to lean more towards fixed or

    flexible project design as they begin by

    identifying the desired result which

    includes Big Ideas which are the core of

    the subject that can provide direction

    for novice Learners as well as

    generating new knowledge in the field

    enduring understanding summarize the

    transferable Big Ideas that cannot be

    understood simply by seeing or hearing

    but by uncovering and doing the subject

    enduring understandings and Big Ideas

    are often explored through essential

    questions that focus on a particular

    topic problem or field of study and the

    kinds of questions that are discussed in

    the field are not just in school once

    the desired results are identified by

    the educator they suggest determining

    what evidence is needed to know if

    you've achieved the desired results once

    evidence has been determined they

    finally suggest planning the learning

    experiences although an entire graduate

    course could literally discuss this and

    other Frameworks for Project based

    learning their book provides more

    suggestions and examples for developing

    projects or curricula that can be

    explored if you're interested in doing

    so using this approach to Project based

    learning and I'll include a link to this

    in the show notes and if you're

    interested in how this might apply to

    curricula or standards you can actually

    check out some examples from the

    national core art standards which is

    linked in the slides on this picture and

    in the show notes or you can even look

    at Ontario's standards which includes

    some of the concepts from backward

    design model another approach to Project

    based learning uses inquiry as a guide

    for learning in the book titled powerful

    learning by Linda darling Hammond and

    many other authors they suggest that

    small group inquiry based projects can

    lead to powerful learning inquiry based

    learning tends to fall in the middle of

    the project Continuum but can lean more

    towards fixed or open projects depending

    on the design and pedagogy used now the

    authors of this book suggest that you

    should start with a vision stage which

    involves envisioning the kinds of

    questions and investigations and that

    might get at the overall objectives and

    competencies next they suggest planning

    out the inquiry by determining how to

    hook student interest through a scenario

    question or brainstorming session

    planning what kinds of misconceptions

    might occur and thinking through

    potential rubrics that either students

    or teacher will use through an inquiry

    the build stage involves planning out

    the brainstorming sessions and

    collaborative teams Gathering resources

    and planning on the processes and

    products that lend themselves to this

    particular investigation the showtime

    stage involves planning on how students

    will demonstrate or display their

    understanding after having work through

    an inquiry based project and the final

    stage involves planning out the kinds of

    Reflections that will be used as a

    transition to the next project note this

    is one approach for inquiry based

    projects as there are many scholars who

    write about this particular approach in

    their book titled young investigators

    Helm and cats outline an emergent

    approach that they described as the

    project approach the project approach

    tends to lean more towards open or

    flexible project design and includes

    three phases the first phase involves

    determining the possible topic which can

    result from a shared event such as a

    field trip a voice curiosity by one of

    the students or initiated by the teacher

    this phase involves not only to

    determining whether the project is

    feasible or interesting to the students

    which is the key point but also

    collaboratively generating a web or list

    of questions that could be investigated

    the next phase involves planning it and

    investigating the topic Helman cat

    suggests that this phase is cyclical as

    new questions are collaboratively

    generated throughout this investigation

    and the Final Phase involves a

    culminating event or activities that are

    then assessed as to whether the

    Project's goals were met while this

    approach may sound similar to inquiry

    based learning the questions that guide

    the investigation are often generated by

    the students themselves or in

    collaboration with the teacher while the

    previous approaches can be engaged with

    throughout the school year some

    districts or schools mandate a

    sequential curriculum that introduces

    coding Concepts and understandings in a

    prescribed order although such an

    approach has affordances and constraints

    that I'd be happy to discuss in other

    podcast episodes sequential learning can

    still incorporate projects that

    encourage application of understanding

    within a new context to begin with such

    an approach encourage the coders that

    you work with to begin a base project

    idea or theme for example create a story

    about a topic of Interest coders can be

    asked to layer in New Concepts and

    understandings as they are learning them

    in your curriculum sequence so for

    example if your classes meet 5 days a

    week spend Fridays layering in the

    concepts and understandings that were

    learned throughout the rest of the week

    such an approach encourages coders to

    revisit their project throughout the

    year and allows them to create more

    complicated Creations or Expressions

    than if they focused on separate

    projects that highlighted one coding

    concept and understanding rather than

    combining them now just clarify I don't

    want to give this false impression that

    projects need to fall on one end of the

    Continuum to be considered worthwhile to

    engage in I also want to note that you

    can modify many of the projects that I

    share in the show notes and in these

    slides to make it so that they are more

    flexible more fixed or more on the open

    end of the Continuum so don't just

    consider the projects as is but also

    consider what they could potentially be

    now for the next chunk of time in this

    podcast I want to kind of share some

    resources that I recommend that are

    relevant to Project based learning with

    scratch and I'll include links in the

    show notes so that way you can explore

    these resources on your own now inside

    of scratch there are a bunch of

    tutorials that I'd recommend starting

    off with you just click on them and it

    shows you a very simple step-by-step

    guide on how to make like a flying game

    or how to make a clicker game or how to

    make Sprites Glide around Etc but

    they're pretty short and pretty easy to

    go through in the majority of a single

    class period depending on how fast or

    slow you are with them so there are a

    bunch of tips that I have shared on my

    website and on my YouTube channel I

    think right now there's like over 60

    videos that show some very basic stuff

    all the way to some very complicated

    things that you can do in scratch and

    I'm continuing to add more actually so

    I'm working on some tutorials that'll be

    coming out soon so check out jared.com

    scratch if you want to check those out

    and they are linked to in the show notes

    if you want to dive deeper into scratch

    if you're looking for something more

    long-term that is a curriculum I'd

    recommend taking a look at the creative

    Computing curriculum so this was

    developed by the Harvard Graduate School

    of Education and I include a link to it

    in the show notes or you can check out

    CS first which is developed by Google

    and it's a great way to kind of get

    started with scratch kind of in an LMS

    format now this is not the first or last

    time that I'll be talking about scratch

    or Project based learning so I've got a

    bunch of podcasts episodes that I

    recommend listening to there's over 200

    episodes right now so please make sure

    to check out some of the other episodes

    on this podcast wherever you're

    listening to this but the one that I

    recommend the most is episode number 192

    which is titled how to get started with

    Computer Science Education which talks

    about how you don't have to pay for

    professional development and in fact the

    podcast episodes that I share dive

    deeper than most professional

    developments I've ever attended or even

    designed so there are a ton of episodes

    that you can listen to that are linked

    in there for different phases or stages

    that you might be in in your own journey

    through Computer Science Education

    whether you're brand new or I've been

    doing this for a while if you want some

    more episodes on scratch I've got some

    of them linked into the show notes as

    well as episodes on Project based

    learning as I've talked about it quite a

    bit throughout this podcast but before I

    close this particular episode I want to

    point out that it's possible to actually

    have fixed flexible and open-ended

    projects occurring simultaneously in the

    same shared space and this approach can

    lead to like an art gallery style where

    instead of just everybody creating their

    own unique paint painting you could have

    people creating their own unique

    painting or sculpture or drawing or

    textile or even an e textile Etc I talk

    about this more in the previous episode

    which is titled facilitating multiple

    programming languages in one space so

    make sure you check out that episode if

    you're curious on how you might be able

    to encourage students to create a

    variety of projects using a variety of

    platforms and languages in the same

    computer science space and if you want

    to dive even deeper into those Concepts

    make sure you check out the podcast

    episodes on romatic learning which is a

    philosophy that informs what I was just

    talking about if you enjoy this episode

    or the 200 plus other episodes that I've

    already released please consider sharing

    of somebody else or leaving a review

    stay tuned until the next episode until

    then I hope you're all staying safe and

    are having a wonderful week

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