Scratch

© 2007 MIT Media Lab
Windows, Mac OSX
Teaches: programming, creativity, math, logic, problem solving, debugging, deductive reasoning, higher-order thinking
CTR Rating: 96%
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See also Scratch 2.0 (January 2019) See also Scratch 2.0. See ScratchJr. Like a multimedia sandbox, Scratch is a free downloadable program for Mac or Windows computers that combines an easy-to-use programming language with an online community. So it is easy to make a program and then share it, or perhaps download somebody else's program to modify. It's like YouTube, with code instead of video. The creativity tool was designed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group—one of many groups at the MIT Media Lab—and is free thanks to funding by NSF and the Intel Foundation. After you download the 36 MB file (registration required) from http://scratch.mit.edu and launch the program, you can drag-and-drop puzzle pieces to program onscreen Sprites, which can take any form (such as a digital photo of your dog, or perhaps a word from a poem, that is read out loud when it is clicked). There's also a full suite of Logo commands (such as Penup and Pendown) that will cause some to recall the language that was popular in many schools 25 years ago. The development team for Scratch was led by Mitchel Resnick, who credits LOGO (Seymour Papert, one of Resnick's mentors) and Squeak (www.squeakland.org) from Alan Kay as primary influences. They, in turn, were inspired from Jean Piaget's constructivism. Because you can record sounds or turn any digital picture into a sprite, the power of Scratch as a story telling or artistic tool begins to emerge. Finished products can be uploaded to an MIT website where they can be previewed on any browser, or downloaded and further edited. (Thus, the YouTube, with code comparison noted earlier.) While Scratch is free and easy to use, there are some weaknesses to note. It is not possible to open more than one project at the same time, and deleting parts of code—such as a Sprite—is done by dragging it off the work area, which can result in accidentally loosing all or parts of a program. We wished there was a better undo or Control-Z option. For those who have been waiting to take back the power of interactive media from Viacom and Disney and give it to the children, Scratch is a welcome new option—and you certainly can't argue with the price. Visit http://scratch.mit.edu/ for more information.