Peer Tutoring with Scratch!

Scratch is a visual programming language that we can use to create games and animations. In Fifth Class, we code with Scratch every week as part of our Maths stations...so we decided to share our expertise with our younger peers. 

We created a series of lessons for 2nd Class that aimed to teach them computational thinking and coding. These lessons, which included unplugged computational thinking, programming Beebots and an introduction to Scratch, were delivered by 5th Class to the younger children over the course of a week. We then presented the 2nd Class group with a final assignment; to create a Scratch animation complete with beginning, middle and end! We even graded them using an assessment rubric! (We were very generous, of course!!) 

The first group introduced the 2nd Class students to unplugged computational thinking. The children had to create an algorithm that told their partner how to draw a monster. 

The second group taught the children how to program a number of Beebots to perform a synchronised dance using an algorithm.

Group 3 extended the learning that had taken place in the first two sessions and introduced Scratch for the first time with the help of the ‘Getting Started’ online tutorial. 

Group 4, meanwhile, allowed the 2nd Class children a chance to follow the ‘Animate a Character’ tutorial so as to familiarise them with the blocks they would need for their final assignment.

Of course, like all good teachers, 5th Class made sure to identify their learning objectives (WALT= We are Learning to) when planning their lesson, and to include a warm-up activity and a good mix of didactic teaching and active learning in their delivery. Wow! There are definitely some natural teachers among us, though Niamh did take issue with Abdullah's assertion that teaching was 'easy.' Not always, Abdullah!!!!

All of this meant that, by the time Friday rolled around, 2nd Class were ready to create some amazing animations! Click on the examples below and have a look. Brilliant work by all. Maith sibh!