Programming

Using the SCRATCH programming environment in computer science lessons in primary school

The article is devoted to the problem of teaching primary school students the basics of programming. The goal of modern education is to form a competitive member of society in literally every field of activity. All areas are closely intertwined with programming and use special programs at different stages of work, so already, starting from primary school age, it is necessary to study programming. The proposed material presents fragments of computer science lessons in elementary school using tasks aimed at teaching the basics of programming in the Scratch environment. The proposed tasks will help to acquire basic knowledge and coding skills, develop students' logical thinking, creativity and the ability to independently acquire knowledge, deriving patterns from practical experience and testing their assumptions experimentally. Programming in the Scratch environment will teach children how to learn, and this is the most relevant in the process of teaching schoolchildren.
Key words: programming, informatics, Scratch environment, primary school age.
Modern society is hard to imagine
without IT. One of the most popular
directions is programming, which
represented by many languages and software
avg. This topic is currently very relevant, since programming is so deep
it has become commonplace that people have ceased to notice how life has changed. Hundreds of thousands of familiar things
would exist without programming or would be
would be much less convenient to use. Common household appliances: microwave oven,
washing machine, all work thanks to the programs embedded in them. The person who chose
this sphere as a professional one, the ability to program is very important. This is, first of all,
requirements of the modern labor market.
Junior school age is a sensitive period for learning the basics of programming. The modern child, as psychologists note, is “multi-tasking”, i.e. tends to do many things at the same time, easily switching from
one to the other, without caring at all
about the quality of the end result. Everything becomes
it is more difficult to help the child in the formation of skills
algorithmic thinking necessary to understand the flow of information. Interactive environments and programming languages available for younger children come to the rescue.
school age.
As part of the study of the propaedeutic course
programming consider such software environments as Logo, Pervologo, KuMir,
Algorithmic, Squeak, Alice, Codmonkey, Scratch and
other. This article will present fragments of tasks for one of the most common software environments studied in elementary school.
school.
One of the simplest programming languages is Scratch. It is a visual block-based event-driven programming environment whose interface is so intuitive.
clear, which makes it possible to use it
when teaching programming to younger students. The Scratch programming language allows
create interactive multimedia projects: cartoons, games and simulations. In him
there is a complete set of tools that make it easy to create various applications. The main components of the program are sprite objects. Programming in the Scratch environment is visual and fast, which is important for
students of this age [2].
Let's give examples of tasks using
programming environment Scratch at the lessons of learning new knowledge and lessons of complex application of knowledge and skills. The developed tasks are focused on students in grades 3-4 and age
students are nine to eleven years old. Lessons from
younger students are in groups of 12-
15 people. The duration of one lesson is 45 minutes.
During the lesson, there is a frequent change of activity: the perception of material on a large
screen and by ear, participation in the discussion of the task, work with paper instructions,
work on a computer in the Scratch environment, oral presentation of your project. Every junior
student participating in the work on the implementation
the proposed task, has the opportunity not
not only to solve the task, but also to creatively refine your mini-project, to propose
your plan for completing the task.
At the lesson of mastering new knowledge, immersion
into a programming language starts with learning
topics "Introduction to the Scratch environment" [1].
Consider the tasks that are used
while studying the topic.
Task 1. Launching the Scratch program and getting to know the environment
It should be noted that all actions
the teacher explains, must be confirmed visually by demonstrating the program interface on the screen or by images of icons
commands.
So, the teacher offers to run the program and perform some actions:
− select the Create command to open
program editor window;
− watch a video about the possibilities
Scratch programs;
− if the language of the program interface is English, then change it to Russian by clicking on the icon
"globe";
− expand the scene to full screen and find
start and stop buttons;
− consider the interface of the editor window;
− write in the notebook the names of the program interface objects and their functions:
sprite - character, object, hero
scene - a place where sprites move, draw, interact
background - the background of the scene
Next, the teacher introduces the students to the properties of the sprite. Explains that in order to
the sprite did interesting things, it should be programmed by moving command blocks from the blocks panel to the script field and connecting them between
yourself. In this case, the teacher first shows himself
these actions, then invites students to perform similar actions.
Task 2. Creating the first program
The teacher explains that each script starts with one of the rounded cap blocks from the Events group. Proposes to perform
action algorithm:
− drag and “glue” a block from
groups Events;
− below the first block place the block
from the Motion group;
- Check if you have succeeded
- run your first program and check how the script works. To run a script
press the green flag
− drag and “glue” the block from the Events group;
− below this block place the block
from the group Looks and set the number of seconds to 5;
− To run the script, press the Space key and execute the program;
− drag and “glue” the block from the Events group;
− below this block place the block
from the Motion group and set the number of seconds to 5;
- check the program and to run the script
click on it.
Task 3. Saving and opening the program
The teacher explains that for further work with the program, it should be saved. Explains the saving algorithm, shows where
save the project if you don't choose your path, and
suggests doing the following:
- to save the program, execute the command File-Save and select the save path to your computer.
Next, the teacher offers to check the project
after saving by running it again. And he gives the students a new command:
− to open a saved project from a computer, execute the command File-Load from computer;
- go to the desired folder and click on
the desired project.
At the lesson of complex application of knowledge and skills, the acquired knowledge about the Scratch environment and commands for working with blocks is consolidated. Students learn to find errors in the program and fix them.
Task 1. Interface elements are numbered. Write the appropriate numbers next to them titles
The teacher distributes cards and invites students to repeat knowledge by fillingout

Task 2. Creating a program

The teacher suggests creating a new program by doing the following:
− launch the Scratch programming environment;
− drag and “glue” a block from
groups Events;
− below this block place the block
from the Management group;
− add a block from the Movement group;
− check if your program looks like this
?
− launch and check the program operation.
Next, the teacher and students discuss some of the conditions that arise during the operation of the program, for example, where did the Cat go? How
can you return it? With the help of leading questions, the teacher leads the children to solve the problem.
To correct the problem, it suggests performing a number of actions:
− from the MOTION group, add to the script
block ;
− check your program against the sample;
− run the project by clicking on ;
− after a few minutes of running the program, stop the project by pressing .
After completing the suggested steps,
students notice the program error again, and
The teacher suggests correcting actions related to
with cat movements by doing the following:
- change the style of the Cat's rotation left to right by adding a block
groups Movement;
− run and check the project;
- after a few minutes of running the program, stop the project.
Next, the behavior of the character of the program is analyzed, and the teacher suggests installing new
ways to rotate and run again and check
project work. If the changes satisfy
program developers, the project should be saved. When doing these tasks, students
learn to perform their actions according to the algorithm and
gradually master the basics of programming.
Thus, the simple visual interface of the Scratch programming environment will allow
students to develop algorithmic thinking and
acquire programming skills. With the help of blocks - the main components of the environment - students can independently create frames of the character's movement, thereby making the first
steps in the world of programming.
REFERENCES
1. Marzhi M. Scratch dlja detej: samouchitel' po programmirovaniju [Scratch for children]. Geskinoj M. (eds.). – Moscow: Mann, Ivanov i Ferber, 2017. 288 p.
2. O Scratch. Sozdavaj istorii, igry i mul'tfil'my: [web-sajt] [Create stories, games and cartoons]. URL: https://scratch.mit.edu/ (Accessed 14.06.2022).