Majed Marji - Learn to Program with Scratch: A Visual Introduction to Programming with Games, Art, Science, and Math

Tyler Watts, EdS, is a creative-computing educator who teaches sixth through eighth graders in Kansas City (Kansas) Unified School District 500 and adult students at the University of MissouriKansas City. He has been using Scratch since 2009 as a tool to combat the digital divide and teach students how to think like computer scientists. Since Tylers first year of teaching Scratch, he has learned the importance of weaning learners off of the Scratch training wheels and challenging them and molding them into digital creators. He feels that programming is a form of personal expression and teaches his students to approach it as they would any other art form and have fun.

Although the books cover shows a single author, many people have had a hand in its creation. I would like to acknowledge the many professionals at No Starch Press who contributed to this work. Special thanks go to my editor, Jennifer Griffith-Delgado, and my production editor, Alison Law, for their significant contributions. Their helpful suggestions and expertise have led to a greatly improved book, and their commitment to excellence appears on every page. I would also like to thank Paula L. Fleming and Serena Yang for their work on the book.

I am truly grateful for the valuable feedback provided by the technical editor, Tyler Watts. His thoughtful suggestions have, in many instances, made their way into the book.

My final thanks go to my wife, Marina, and my two sons, Asad and Karam, who supported me throughout this long project. Theyve put up with so much to give me the time and space I needed. Maybe now I can catch up with the things Ive missed!

Scratch is a visual programming language that provides a rich learning environment for people of all ages. It allows you to create interactive, media-rich projects, including animated stories, book reports, science projects, games, and simulations. Scratchs visual programming environment enables you to explore areas of knowledge that would otherwise be inaccessible. It provides a full set of multimedia tools you can use to create wonderful applications, and you can do so more easily than with other programming languages.

In many ways, Scratch promotes problem-solving skillsimportant in all areas of life, not just programming. The environment provides immediate feedback, allowing you to check your logic quickly and easily. The visual structure makes it a simple matter to trace the flow of your programs and refine your way of thinking. In essence, Scratch makes the ideas of computer science accessible. It makes learning intrinsically motivating; fosters the pursuit of knowledge; and encourages hands-on, self-directed learning through exploration and discovery. The barriers to entry are very low, while the ceiling is limited only by your creativity and imagination.

A lot of books claim to teach you how to program using Scratch. Most target very young readers and present only a few simple applications that guide the reader through Scratchs user interface. These books are more about Scratch than programming. The goal of this book, by contrast, is to teach fundamental programming concepts using Scratch as a tool, as well as to unveil the capabilities of Scratch as a powerful vehicle for both teaching and learning.