Visual programming – introduction to Scratch
By Margo TinawiVisual programming lets humans describe processes using illustrations or graphics. We usually speak of visual programming as opposed to text-based programming. Visual programming languages (VPLs) are especially well adapted to introduce algorithmic thinking to children (and even adults). With VPLs, there is less to read and no syntax to implement.
In this video, Margo Tinawi, Web Development Teacher at Le Wagon and Co-Founder of Techies Lab asbl (Belgium), will help you discover Scratch, one of the most popular VPL used all over the world. Scratch was developed by the MIT in 2002, and since then a big community has been created around it, where you can find millions of projects to replicate with your students and countless tutorials in several languages.
You do not need to have any coding experience to use Scratch, and you can use it in all the different subjects! For instance, using Scratch as a digital storytelling tool, students can create stories, illustrate a math problem or play an art contest to learn about cultural heritage, while learning coding and computational thinking, and most important, having fun.
Scratch is a free tool, very intuitive and motivating for your students. Have a look at Margo’s video to learn how to get started.
Ready to share what you learnt with your students?
Choose one of the lesson plans below and organize an activity with your students.
- Activity 1 – Scratch Basic for Primary School
- Activity 2 – Scratch Basic for Lower Secondary School
- Activity 3 – Scratch Basic for Secondary School
Do not forget to add your activity to the Code Week Map!
You can easily organize a lesson in your classroom, an open day, or an event at your school. Just find a date and register your activity in the Code Week map. Each activity organizer will get a certificate of participation for their effort.
If you would like to connect with an international group of enthusiastic teachers, join the EU Code Week Facebook group for teachers! To take a step further and collaborate with other schools in your country or across borders – join the Code Week 4 All challenge.
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Except where stated otherwise, content made available on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license
Licensing under Creative Commons licenses does not of itself affect the ownership of the copyright
Content from third party websites is subject to their own copyright restrictions; please refer to the site of origin for more information.
The EU Code Week website for schools is a service supported by the European Commission
Except where stated otherwise, content made available on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license
Licensing under Creative Commons licenses does not of itself affect the ownership of the copyright
Content from third party websites is subject to their own copyright restrictions; please refer to the site of origin for more information.