Scratch Coding & the Engineering Design Process (Beginner, Ages 8-9)

In this course, students will learning basic coding in MIT's Scratch platform (https://scratch.mit.edu/) while also learning about the iterative engineering design process. This process involves identifying the problem, brainstorming solutions, prototyping, testing solutions and critiquing them. Students will be able to put their 'engineering hard hats' on to think systematically, logically and consider a variety of factors when choosing design solutions for their Scratch project. 

Each week, students will learn to use and experiment with new elements on the Scratch interface. Each lesson will involve a tutorial of the element uses, experimentation and a mini-project applying these elements. The schedule for each week is as follows: 

Week 1 - Sprites & Costumes [Project: a self-portrait]
Week 2 - Backdrops [Project: story-telling]
Week 3 - Motions [Project: a dance routine]
Week 4 - Sensing [Project: simple catch game]
Week 5 - Variables [Project: soccer game]
Week 6 - Speaking & Thinking Project: autobiographies]

My role in this class will be to enable students to apply their creativity in a productive way - while also learning key skills in design thinking, such as brainstorming, prototyping and communicating design solutions. In addition, as an engineer, I will take a small portion of the class to discuss potential career options in engineering - and where engineering design would be applied in these career options. 

**Note: This class is for beginners who have little or no in-class experience with Scratch. For intermediate and advanced classes, please check out my other courses.**