ScratchJr. Good Practice Example #4

ScratchJr. Good Practice Example #4

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ScratchJr as a medium for coding and programming in kindergarten

Country:    Greece               

Age Group: 3-6 & 6 – 12 years

Content Area

  • Use of digital tools (devices/apps) as a “playground” for creative digital-based skills 
  • Using digital devices as a medium for coding and programming, a “playground” for learning and developing a variety of creative digital-based skills.

Abstract

The practice refers to the use of the ScratchJr software Coding (i.e. programming a computer) to develop basic programming skills in children between the ages of 5 and 7. Conceptual bases on the educational potential of coding concern a new type of basic competence and, just like writing, coding helps to organize thinking and express ideas.  When children programme with ScratchJr coding, they not only learn how to interact with the computer, they also learn how to create and express themselves using the computer. Children learn problem-solving and planning skills, as well as developing the ability to organize in sequence. 

Project Website: N/A

Project Materials/ Examples: 

Programming to young children has a crucial influence on the development of their cognitive functions. There are available programming environments suited for preschoolers. A small case study was carried by some researchers from the Department of Preschool Education of the University of Crete, which also serves as a pilot for a broader research, to investigate the effect of using ScratchJr for teaching basic programming concepts and more generally for the development of computational thinking in preschool education. The teaching intervention is based on the ScratchJr “Animated Genres” curriculum described by Portelance and Bers (2015) and the activities included in “The Official ScratchJr Book” (Bers and Resnick, 2015). During the teaching intervention, pre-school children can familiarise themselves with the development environment, learn basic programming concepts (blocks) and create their own projects.
In this article there are more details. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305390965_Developing_fundamental_programming_concepts_and_computational_thinking_with_ScratchJr_in_preschool_education_A_case_study

Contact Name: Papadakis Stamatios; Kalogiannakis Michail

Email address: stpapadakis@gmail.com;  mkalogian@uoc.gr; 

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