Programming for Everyone

Programming for Everyone

How is Making ProgrammingMore Accessible, Meaningful, and Social

Mitchel ResnickMIT Media Lab

More Accessible

More Meaningful

More Social

More Accessible

More Meaningful

More Social

More Accessible

More Meaningful

More Social

Low Floor

High Ceiling

Low Floor

High Ceiling

W i d e W a l l s

I have to admit that I initially didn’t get why a kids’ programming language should be so media-centric, but after seeing my kids interact with Scratch it became much more clearer to me. One of the nicest things I saw with Scratch was that it personalized the development experience in new ways by making it easy for my kids to add personalized content and actively participate in the development process. Not only could they develop abstract programs to do mindless things with a cat or a box, etc… but they could add THEIR own pictures and THEIR own voices to the Scratch environment which has given them hours of fun and driven them to learn.

-- Scratch parent

More Accessible

More Meaningful

More Social

What is fun about Scratch and about organizing a company to write games together is that I’ve made a lot of friends and learned lots of new things. I’ve learned a lot about different kinds of programming by looking at other games with interesting effects, downloading them, and looking at and modifying the scripts and sprites. I really like programming!

Also, when I started with Scratch I didn't think I was a very good artist. But since then, just by looking at other people's art projects, asking them questions, and practicing drawing using programs like Photoshop and the Scratch paint editor, I've gotten a lot better at art.

Another thing I've learned while organizing Blue Elk is how to help keep a group of people motivated and working together… I like Scratch better than blogs or social networking sites like Facebook because we're creating interesting games and projects that are fun to play, watch, and download. I don't like to just talk to other people online, I like to talk about something creative and new.

-- 13-year-old girl

Think Creatively

Think Creatively

Reason Systematically

Think Creatively

Reason Systematically

Work Collaboratively

Computational Thinking

Pathways to Computational Thinking

Support Personal Connections

Support Social Connections

Connect Ideas to Activities

Reach Beyond Problem-Solving

Design, Create, Express

Why Computational Thinking?

Prepare more CS professionals

Enable personal expression

Enable creative thinking

Enable learning of other things

Prepare responsible citizens

scratch-ed@media.mit.edu

I just wanted to thank you directly for your work on Scratch. I grew up as a kid with the LOGO programming language, to which I attribute much of my early passion for computers and technology. I have periodically wondered – somewhat sadly I will admit – whether we would ever have a LOGO for the next generation.  

A few weeks ago I overheard my 9 and 7 year old sons talking about “animating their sprites” for their “new game.” I watched them, and quickly learned all about Scratch.  The combination of the social networking side of Scratch with the critical thinking and analytics, make it clear to me this is the next LOGO. 

I have worked in high-tech for 16 years, and currently run a global engineering organization for a top technology company.  I’ve watched as succeeding generations of college students have lost the passion those for computers that those of us from the first PC generation had. Too often I see kids today only interested in being consumers of technology, not in building it. Scratch is a breath of fresh air for technology, software engineering, and mostly importantly, my kids.

A couple of days ago, a colleague of mine (CS faculty) told me how she tried to get her 10-year-old daughter interested in programming, and the only thing that appealed to her daughter (hugely) was Scratch.

Moshe VardiEditor-in-Chief

Communications of the ACM

http://scratch.mit.edu

Creators of Scratch

My 8 yr old son has been yearning to learn programming and game creation for years now. We have recently returned to homeschooling and did a search on programming and found your website 2 days ago.

He fell asleep last night saying his lifelong dream had come true.

He created his own fish game after playing with the samples for only a few hours and is eagerly planning what to do next.

I can't begin to tell you how long I have searched for something that would challenge and drive this child, let alone keep him interested for very long as his mind is always planning. I had thought I could just not provide what he needed.

Thank you, truly, from our family - for working on this project and making it available to everyone.

-- Scratch parent