What is Scratch?
Scratch is a graphical programming platform and programming language created by the good folks at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). To youngsters and the young at heart, it is a tool to build creative, interactive content while learning and applying logical, mathematical, computational thinking. A generous dash of imagination will also open up many creative possibilities, all programmable with Scratch.
To get started immediately, download and install Scratch. I recommend reading the Getting Started Guide (PDF file) and going through some of the resources. Or just play around after you have installed it. You will get the hang of it ;-)
What is this website about?
This site aims to share boundless project ideas programmed with Scratch. I release weekly projects for the Scratch beginner to dabble with. Occasionally you will also find me sharing related thoughts about Scratch and education.
On a higher cause, this site is here to spread awareness and interest in computational thinking and programming. Education syllabi have no lack of the sciences, arts and humanities. Students learn their Physics, Chemistry, Biology. They learn Economics, Literature, maybe even Philosophy. Unfortunately, very few know about Computer Science and even when they have heard of it, have a great misconception that the subject only involves authoring software. That is akin to saying that Surgery is only about learning to hold the scalpel. Computer Science is rich with intellectual challenges and opens up a wealth of opportunities - but this is no place to talk about them, we will just reserve them as a blog post some other day =)
The long and short of it is that Computer Science deserves more awareness, and students in particular deserves a chance to discover the opportunities it presents. This site is not about Computer Science, but it hopes to instill interest and love for the creative and intellectual thought processes the subject promotes.
Who should visit this site?
Any child, teen or student keen on learning, any parent wanting to teach logical, mathematical, or programming skills and knowledge to the child, any educator looking for information, projects, or alternative sources for teaching, fellow Scratch enthusiasts, any innocent web surfer stumbling on the site by chance - welcome!
