Scratch enables students to "scratch" below the surface

I listened to EdTechTalk's Teacher Teaching Teachers discussion, Low floors, high ceilings, wide walls: using Scratch and Learning about the BP Oil Spill. This particular podcast focused on how various teachers are using Scratch, an online development enviroment created by MIT a few years ago to facilitate computer programming.

Basically what Scratch is is a computer programming environment that allows students/users to create a myriad of interactive creations on the internet using "blocks" of code (similar to building with legos!). Kylie Peppler, an Asst. Professor in Learning Sciences at Indiana University, summarized Scratch as a "low floors, high ceilings, wide walls" environment. What she meant by this is that first, Scratch provides a low barrier to entry and is easy to use; secondly, that it also has the capacity to develop very complicated programs so can encompass high-end users; and lastly, the diversity of projects users can create is quite vast.

Several teachers shared examples of how they were using Scratch with their students. Projects ranged from online storytelling, to games to music/art projects to online school "newspapers." One of the key focuses of the show was to demonstrate to an interested middle school teacher how Scratch was being used to help students engage in key issues like the BP oil spill. The discussions ended up being quite broad (and just touched upon the "Voices on the Gulf" project). Overall teachers seemed quite pleased with how the tool engages their students, allows them to create (and not just consume) content, and provides a platform for inquisitive learning.

One area I was curious about, after finishing our recent homework assignment, was whether Scratch had been used to create any virtual manipulative for math. After looking at several(!), I actually discovered one that was similar to another I found for my particular focus (M(N&O) grade 5) which helps students identify the order of numbers (although this one was broader including negative numbers as well). If you are interested, check it out at http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/dapontes/583517.