Make coding more than a programmer’s tool. Teachers can now learn how to use Scratch, a block coding tool, across the curriculum! This course allows you to learn how to use Scratch to teach computational thinking. Teachers can use it to present, animate, and gamify their lessons. The online, self-paced course (Scratch Computational Thinking) is available through TCEA.
What Is TCEA?
If you don’t know us, we’re a nonprofit education association. Our mission? Advancing teaching and learning through the use of technology. Improving education with teachers and ensuring student success is our goal!
What You’ll Learn in the Scratch Course
Participants in the Scratch course watch videos to learn how to create animations, make mathematical instructional resources, and create games. And the course shows teachers how to pose and solve computational thinking problems.
TCEA Course Developer James Abela says that teachers will make lessons that encourage literacy and writing. Abela assisted in the launch of the Raspberry Pi at Cambridge, and he is also the course developer of TCEA’s Swift Programming course.
Abela says he loves teaching computer science, and with this course, teachers can take first steps into coding. “You will be able to create interactive animations. Teachers can support learning across all subjects!” he says.
What Are the Scratch Course Details?
Once you complete the course, you will be able to create learning experiences for students with Scratch. “You can click things together just like Lego, so it’s a great way to get things started. It enables us to teach real models like the input process and output model,” says Abela.
The course includes five modules:
- Module 1: Getting Started with Scratch
- Module 2: Sequence
- Module 3: Selection
- Module 4: Iteration (Repetition)
- Module 5: Interactivity
Enrolling in the course gets you a free TCEA membership, and once completed, you receive 12 CPE credits, and a digital badge. What’s more, you’ll get a digital certificate of completion! Course access lasts for one full year from a your date of enrollment in the course.
What Are the Scratch Course Prerequisites and Requirements?
This course is for teachers of students ages 7 – 14 and is an introductory course to computational thinking using Scratch. More sophisticated techniques shown here are suitable for older students. Scratch is also featured in Harvard’s CS50 course, which shows learning Scratch can benefit adult learners.
How To Sign Up
The course is available for $39, but for groups of 10 or more, the price is discounted to $34 per person. Contact Miguel Guhlin (mguhlin@tcea.org) for pricing quotes for 10 or more people. Large groups can also pay via TCEA Credit Card Authorization Form. Interested? Go ahead, enroll now!
