Terrific Tech Tool To Try: Code to Create and Communicate

The Scratch website offers detailed instructions about how to start a Scratch project. 

Using Scratch as a digital storytelling tool, students can:

• Create poetry.
• Create short stories related to a piece of literature.
• Create and/or illustrate a math problem.
• Research and report about a career.
• Research and report about a historical figure, scientist, etc.
• Illustrate a current event.

Here are a few ideas for story assignments:

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3-2-1 About You
Create a Scratch project about yourself. Use a photo of your own face (you can paste it on any sprite body). Begin by outlining your project on a storyboard, with a title, introduction, middle, and end. Include the following:

• Three traits that make you a good team member when working in a collaborative group.
• Two science topics that we will be studying this year that you find particularly interesting.
• One short-term goal (for this school year).
• One long-term goal (5 or 10 years from now).
• Import your face on a sprite.
• At least two background changes.
• Speech or thought bubbles to communicate content.
• Music at beginning and end.

Scratch an Element
Research your assigned element from the periodic table. Create a Scratch project focusing on one or more unique properties of that element or a common compound. Begin by outlining your project on a storyboard. Include the following:

• An animated Bohr diagram of your element.
• The atomic number, mass, and number of protons, neutrons, electrons.
• History of your element.
• Interesting facts about your element.
• Cite references used.
• At least two sprites –- at least one of which moves.
• At least two background changes.
• At least two different sound effects or voice-overs.
• Everything must start when the green flag is clicked.

Newton Has an Itch (So Scratch It!)
Create a Scratch project explaining or demonstrating one of Newton’s laws. Begin by outlining your project on a storyboard. Include the following:

• A description of one of Newton’s laws.
• At least two animated demonstrations of the law.
• At least two sprites.
• At least two background changes.
• Speech or thought bubbles OR voice-overs to communicate content.
• Use one or more command keys to move an object.
• At least one sound effect.

As students build their stories in Scratch, their work aligns with ISTE's definition of computational thinking. With Scratch, students

• Formulate a problem as they determine how to use the elements in Scratch to construct their story -- creating plot, setting, sequencing, and perspective.
• Logically organize and analyze data by creating blocks of code to create characters and design settings.
• Represent the data (story content) through the movement of sprites -- the characters in Scratch. The source of sprites can be from Scratch’s extensive library, an online image, a cropped photo, or an original drawing in Paint (an online drawing program within Scratch).
• Use algorithmic thinking as they create code to make sprites move and communicate.
• Identify, analyze, and implement solutions in the ordered steps they created to make the program work as they envision.
• Transfer this problem-solving process to other situations as they tackle more complex animation challenges within Scratch and elsewhere in their lives.

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Adapted from https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/how-to-use-scratch-for-digital-storytelling

Interactive Storytelling with Scratch