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