Mitchel Resnick in HTP: "What skills does Scratch develop in children?"
This video has subtitles.
Today, many Belarusian pupils study Scratch programming in the framework of the project "Programming as a Secondary Literacy".
The main aim of this project is to develop the children's algorithmic and logical thinking, form basic ideas about programming languages. Studying Scratch helps children not only to understand and create computer programs, but also to use them to solve practical problems. So, there is a shift from "PC user" to the "creator and co-author of information space".
According to Mitchel Resnick, Scratch is a multi-purpose tool. It develops not only primary programming skills and algorithmic thinking, but also helps to bring talent to light because Scratch gives an opportunity to create movies, games, animated cards and presentations easily. Children can compose stories, draw and revitalize the characters they invented, learn to work with graphics and sound. It is also important that the child has the opportunity to share the result of his work with friends or other users, receive feedback from them. Moreover, they can create new heroes and allow other community members to use them in their projects. Children begin to see themselves in a new way. They understand that they can be contributors in society.
In order to prove this idea M. Resnick cited the words of the girl Ipsi, who created her first project on Scratch:
"I never thought I could do the coding part. I thought I could do art, but I'd have to wait until I'm a grown up and hire someone to code it for me. When I tried Scratch, it was like, hey, I can actually do this myself".