My learning story pacman on scratch
- 1. Learning Story Name: Develop a digital game by coding- Pacman on Scratch Age range of students: 15-17 Number of students in my class:10 Subject: Computer Science and Communications Technology Brief background on your school and classroom: My school is a secondary school located in a little town in Greece with around 50 students. Most of them come from agricultural families but they intend to study at university, therefore they work hard at school. Although most of my students have a smartphone, it is forbidden by the Greek Ministry to use them in the classroom. I have my own Computer lab with 10 desktop computers in a Local Network but they are really outdated. When it comes for offline applications, the lab works sufficiently. Key challenges, trends impacting your work at the school and how they link to the Learning Story: ICT is is embedded across the Greek curriculum both as an autonomous topic and asa horizontal tool support. Students are fans of technology and heavy internet users from their early years, therefore they are considering ICT as a tool and not as a science subject. This is the reason, I chose to teach them how to code, which is the core of Informatics.Their parents also concern about the time students spend on the Internet by playing games and posting on social media. This learning activity will motivate them to become web content creators and not just consumers on the Internet. They will also have the opportunity to use social media for learning reasons. Duration(could range from a couple of minutes to a couple of lessons) 2 lessons Homework: 1-2 hours 1 lesson 2 lessons 15 lessons 4 lessons 2 lessons Learning Activity Dream Explore Map Make Ask and Collaborate Show Goals (learning objectives, try to match them to your curriculum and 21 st Century Skills) To learn coding on Scratch To develop project planning skills To develop collaborative skills To develop communication skills To develop software and web content production skills To develop research skills To develop critical evaluation skills To reflect on their own design To develop software production skills To develop information organization skills To develop collaboration (feedback) skills To learn the underlying concepts of programming Learn how to catch bugs and break software To learn how to upload and share their work on the web To define criteria and self- evaluate their work To improve critical thinking To effectively use feedback and criticism to improve their work To develop communication and presentation skills To engage with a real-world audience Description of each learning activity in the context of the learning story I am a Computer Science teacher and with the Communication Technology teacher, I am challenging my students to create a digital game (Pacman) by coding on Scratch. I first show them a few interactive games and quizzes on Scratch Community in order to inspire and motivate them and also present the abilities that the Scratch has. The last 15 minutes I ask them to dream up their own digital game. In the second lesson, we work on distribution in 4 three-student teams. Each team selects a coordinator and decides about his/her role. I ask students to find and play at home various editions of Pacman Game and to keep notices on a common on line editor (Titan Pad) about: - the terms and rules of the game - the characters (sprites) -the scene (backround) Back in school, all students working in teams, review and compose the notes on Titan Pad and create mind maps of their findings. This way they start to create the basic scenario of their game, including -The characters (sprites) and how they are moving on the scene - Pacman’s lives at the beginning - How to lose and how to earn a live - Messages to be displayed for the player (user) - Sounds and other effects to be used. Working in teams students start to create their characters (sprites) and background scene using the drawing toll that is included in Scratch. In second phase they start to write the programming commands for each sprite. For this reason, they follow teacher’s instructions that are uploaded on school blog. ALPHA TEST (Peer review) Teams present games in the classroom plenary. Students compose an Alpha Test Evaluation Form for Software, using Google Forms. Each team play the other’s team game and fill up on line the evaluation Form. They use feedback to improve their game. BETA TEST Teams upload their games on Scratch Community, and share them on Facebook, asking their friends, parents and teachers to play the Game and post comments and criticism as final users. They use feedback to improve their game. Students upload their final edition in Scholl Blog. SCHOOL COMMUNITY Students present their games in the school community. STUDENTS DIGITAL FESTIVAL Students present their work in National Students Digital Festival. Teacher evaluate the team work in 3 dimensions … Research Process … content … Public Presentation of Teamwork Digital technologies and tools Scratch 2.0 on line edition, Team up Web search machines , Scratch community, Titan Pad Examtime,Titan Pad Scratch 1.4 off line edition, School blog Google Forms, Facebook, Scratch on line Prezi, School Blog