Participate and share: Poster 
The purpose of this session is (1) to demonstrate how students have utilized the Scratch coding environment to animate and design their unique stories and (2) to provide guidance, resources, and reassurance to teachers who would like to give their students a similar opportunity. One of the objectives of this session is to provide teachers and students with awareness of the free, internet-based Scratch platform to create and easily share digital stories and presentations. A second objective is to demonstrate how manageable it is to teach kids to code in Scratch. Thirdly, we will take the time to share the many benefits of giving students to code stories and presentations in Scratch. From a 21st century skills perspective, this project offers students the opportunity to engage in critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and to create digital media. From a computer science/computational thinking perspective, students will code sequences, loops and will tinker, debug, and persevere. From a language arts perspective, students will develop storyboards and narrate the projects. Scratch makes it easy for kids to record their voices or to simply type text into speech bubbles. The content of the stories and presentations can support any subject matter, from explaining a model of the food chain to animating a day of a colonist. Finally, from a social perspective, these projects provide a place for students to represent themselves and their ideas in a unique and engaging way.
The project is part of a Scratch-based upper elementary school curriculum designed specifically for English language learners and students from underrepresented groups in the field of computing. This curriculum can be viewed at bit.ly/ACT1curriculum and is free to use and access by anyone. Resources and lesson plans for this project can be found in lesson 3.4 and 3.4 on this website.
This curriculum has been taught for 4 years in upper elementary level classes. Teachers and students have been interviewed and have reported positively. We hope that one teacher, a presenter, will be able to share her experience at ISTElive 2023!
As participants come into the room:
A video of recorded student Scratch projects will be playing. A Menti code is provided for participants to take a digital poll with the following question:
Please rate how interested you are in learning how to better integrate the following learning opportunites for your students: (not interested — very interested)
- Creating digital media
- Coding and developing computation thinking skills
- Producing original narratives and stories to encourage student voice and expression
- Providing a digital option for students to give a presentation
- Developing 21st Century Skills, such as critical thinking, communication skills, creativity, and problem solving
Introduction (5 min)
Presenters introduce themselves, the background of the project, where it has been implemented.
Share the purpose of the session: (1) to demonstrate how students have utilized the Scratch coding environment to animate and design their unique stories and (2) to provide guidance, resources, and reassurance to teachers who would like to give their students a similar opportunity.
Show the results of the Mentimeter poll and explain that the Scratch project that we are sharing has the potential to meet the needs listed in the poll question.
Overview of Scratch and how to navigate the Scratch environment. (2 min)
Describe the basic Scratch knowledge that students need to develop the Scratch project. (3 min)
Walk through the steps of presenting the project to the students. (3 min)
Share student projects, highlighting interesting aspects of specific projects. (5 min)
Participants discuss with 2-3 others how specifically this type of project can be adapted to support other subject areas. Ideas can be added to a Jamboard. (10 min)
Closing: Our free Scratch curriculum is provided to support them in teaching basic Scratch skills to students. (2 min)
NOTE: If conference organizers feel like participants would benefit more from a slower pace of presentation, discussion, and brainstorming, we would be happy to present this for one hour in an EdTalk.
“The use of Scratch for the development of 21st century learning skills in ICT”
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6877061?casa_token=Xq5WaxPqGjUAAAAA:a0QYrohCLOYWv0967fmXqNA4g1nVMnKEX0gq-vD2P0c3klYYWAtErYaASAuggXOzXwSHBhhavx8 “For the duration of this study, it was noticeable that the group of students easily adapted to Scratch. We concluded that the use of this tool motivates students and improves the learning process. It also contributes to a higher level of concentration and promotes collaborative learning. Additionally, it facilitates creativity, dialogue and the overall relationship among students. The teacher quickly understood that this tool allowed the shift into a pedagogic model based on the collaborative construction of knowledge. “
“Digital Storytelling: A District Initiative for Academic Literacy Improvement”
https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jaal.962?casa_token=kuUCVpc-0CUAAAAA%3AU833tHK95FLAEWRSjXvpyPrIMgqcteiEJNRpNJ9GQr9A9qkXh4lebwEtz7iFTaicyj29DUZKyqRiO9Cq “Findings from a first-year exploratory study suggest that students who engage in digital storytelling develop their academic literacy and important technology and media arts skills. Yet, digital storytelling is being implemented very unevenly in the district, and teachers who wish to implement it face challenges in integrating it into a full curriculum. To achieve more consistent integration and better results, the researchers recommend that the district articulate the role of digital storytelling in district/state curricular goals and develop a framework for implementation consistent with this articulation.”
“Computer Programming in Elementary and Middle School: Connections across Content”
https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/computer-programming-in-elementary-and-middle-school/141195 “Computing has impacted almost all aspects of life, making it increasingly important for the next generation to understand how to develop and use software. Yet, a lack of research on how children learn computer science and an already impacted elementary school schedule has meant that very few children have the opportunity to learn computer science prior to high school. This chapter introduces literature on teaching computer programming to elementary and middle school, highlights three studies that span elementary and middle school, and discusses how programming can be integrated into other content areas and address national standards.”
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