[This is a reblog of a post I wrote at scratchmathland.com] The BBC micro:bit contains various sensors for measuring temperature, light intensity, direction, movement, and so on. These sensors might be valuable in a project in which measurement data collected by one micro:bit (the sensor) can be communicated to another micro:bit (the receiver) and displayed... Continue Reading →

At long last, the new version of Scratch is now live at scratch.mit.edu. It launched officially on January 2, 2019. Scratch 3 is a complete redesign of not only the editor but also the code 'under the hood' that runs Scratch. The advantage is that Scratch 3 now works on virtually any device that is connected... Continue Reading →

Here is an excerpt from an interesting blog post called The Invented History of 'The Factory Model of Education.'  Schools might feel like highly de-personalized institutions; they might routinely demand compliance and frequently squelch creativity. But they don’t really look like and they really don’t work like factories. I disagree. I do agree that there was... Continue Reading →

I am always asking and thinking about three questions regarding the use of computer programming as a tool for (co)learning, (co)thinking, (co)designing, and self-expression in schools. Within educational contexts, my questions are: What is the promise of coding to learn? What is the promise of learning to code? How can the promise of each be be... Continue Reading →

This the third update about our year-long game design project in grade 4/5. The game designers have one goal: Design and code a game in Scratch that makes learning about fractions fun and easy for younger students. The target game-playing audience for this project are grade 2 students. You can check out the progress of... Continue Reading →

This is my second post about a project called Learning Design by Making Games and is directly modeled after the research of Yasmin Kafai. An overview of that research and this project is in the initial post. Other resources and links about this project can be found at the end of this post. This update... Continue Reading →

Can expertise cause bias in such a way that it prevents an expert from looking at new ideas with an authentically open mind? I was inspired after reading this blog post about "calling BS" on educational bandwagons, trends and fads. It struck me after reading Dean's post that, while I highly value the usefulness of... Continue Reading →

This blog hop topic of ‘design’ could not have come at a better time. Students and I are in the midst of designing a game called ‘Peela’ or ‘The Yellow Bug’ game in Scratch (click to try it). This project serves as an example, challenge and provocation for students. There are so many decisions that... Continue Reading →

There are many benefits to taking time and energy to effectively integrate technology into learning tasks, which already will include knowledge/skills/values from the curriculum and various pedagogical strategies. There is a very useful model, called the TPACK framework, and it can help educators visualize the overlap of each these areas of knowledge that are used when designing learning tasks.  In... Continue Reading →