Game Design 1 With Scratch Coding - Make Fun Games! Max 4 Learners
Use Scratch to create 3 fun games and build up your coding skills. Small class size for individual attention. 4 learners max means no one falls behind!
Kari Santos - coding Scratch and Robotics
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(475)
Star Educator
What's included
4 live meetings
3 hrs 40 mins in-class hoursClass Experience
Scratch is a wonderful, free(!) web-based coding environment that is great for young coders. Great for first-time coders but with so many features, your child will be creating for years to come! In my opinion, it is the best way to learn to code. In this class, we'll learn how to make games that you can play. Each week we will work on a different game - we'll start with learning how to make the base game, and then you can add more to make the game your own. We'll learn how to make sprites and animate them, how to control sprites with the keyboard and mouse, how to detect when things bump into each other, how to program gravity, and more! This class is designed for "advanced beginners" - a student has used Scratch and has made a few projects. If your child is new to Scratch, I offer 2 beginner classes that meet 2 times (2 hours total) called "Let's Tell a Joke" and "Make an Interactive Card", which are great introductions to Scratch, and would prepare them for this class. Is this class right for your child? Here's how to tell: ask them to log into their Scratch account. If they can't do that - then they should start with a beginner class first. If they can log in, ask to see the projects they've made. If they have at least 4 projects, and the projects have more than an orange cat on a white background, then this class should be perfect. (If they have more than 20 projects, and they are not just remixes, then this class may be too easy. Ask if there's something they want to learn - maybe we can set up a one-on-one session). Note: this class is now part of a series. But it is a stand-alone class - 3 games will be built during this class. If your child likes this class they can take more!
Learning Goals
I focus on the elements of the computational thinking framework.
Concepts: sequences, loops, parallelism, events, conditionals, operators and data
Practices: experimenting, testing and debugging, reusing and remixing and abstracting
Perspectives - creating and expressing, connecting with others, questioning.
Other Details
Parental Guidance
SCREEN SETUP IS REALLY IMPORTANT IN THIS CLASS!!!! I share my Scratch window on Zoom, and I expect that students can see my Scratch at the same time they work on their own Scratch window. I also ask students to share their screen when they run into difficulties so I can help them debug - which requires one device that can run both Scratch and Zoom. This takes a good amount of screen space. Ideally a large screen on one computer (or laptop). Some students use two devices, but then they can't easily share their work with me. I don't recommend using one tablet (iPad) for the class, because the student can't see Zoom and Scratch at the same time (to the best of my knowledge).
Also, it helps to have an adult nearby at the beginning of the first class to help set up the student's display correctly. I check in with every student at the beginning of each class and help them set up. But many students don't know how to resize windows.
Supply List
Please make sure your learner has a Scratch account and can log into it. Do not use a downloaded version of Scratch - use the website. Screen setup is really important in this class. I share my Scratch window on Zoom, and I expect that students can see my Scratch at the same time they work on their own Scratch window. I also ask students to share their screen when they run into difficulties so I can help them debug. This takes a good amount of screen space. Ideally a large screen on one computer (or laptop). Some students use two devices, but then they can't easily share their work with me. I don't recommend using one tablet (iPad) for the class, because the student can't see Zoom and Scratch at the same time (to the best of my knowledge). Also, it helps to have an adult nearby at the beginning of the first class to help set up the student's display correctly. I check in with every student at the beginning of each class and help them set up. But many students don't know how to resize windows.
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Joined March, 2020
4.9
475reviews
Star Educator
Teacher expertise and credentials
I have taught Scratch to many students in the past few years, and am astounded by the creativity of my students in their Scratch projects. My master's degree focused on building software and curriculum to make learning to code more engaging for middle school students - particularly girls.Reviews
Live Group Class
$88
for 4 classes1x per week, 4 weeks
55 min
Completed by 434 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 7-12
1-4 learners per class
