A Book For Young Programmers On Scratch

By Denis Golikov

Computers & Internet

Education & Textbooks

Language: English Not Rated (NR)

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Overview Ratings & Reviews

The material is written for Grade 3-5 students.

The goal of the book is introduction into programming, mathematics, sciences for elementary school students.
The material is written for student self-study (8-11 y.o.) who have basic skills of operating a computer. Children have to be able to use «a mouse», start using labels, etc., as well as count to 480, multiply and divide. More complex mathematical notions (negative numbers, decimal fractions, coordinate axis, degrees) will be explained on the pages of the book.
Scratch is a new free programming environment that allows children from 7 years old to create their own stories, cartoons, games and other creation.
This program allows children to express themselves in computer creative work. Scratch was specifically created as a new learning environment for teaching school students programming.
You can create cartoons in Scratch, play with various objects, change them, move them on the screen, set up forms of interaction between objects. The programs are created of multi-colored blocks the same way as Lego construction sets are made of multi-colored bricks.
Scratch was created in 2006 under the supervision of Mitchel Resnick by a Lifelong Kindergarten group in MIT Media Lab.
Scratch works on Windows or Linux computers. It doesn't work on any tablets!
Each chapter requires about 20-30 minutes to study. It is not recommended to study more than two chapters per day.

The Story Behind This Book

About this e-book. I am 37 years old. My background is in Computer Engineering. My son, got into programming on Scratch at 7 years of age. I started looking for books on Scratch on the Internet for children of 7-9 years old, but I could not find anything. All Scratch textbooks are for 11-13 years old children, though there is nothing difficult in Scratch. Having basic Math knowledge it is possible to use more than half of Scratch capabilities and make cool games and cartoons. After my son had mastered Scratch, he got very upset once he learned that they would not be studying it at school and that other children, his friends and classmates would never learn about this interesting program. I made a decision to sacrifice my Sunday evenings to organize a club of programmers on Scratch. And so a year ago my son and I started teaching a club of young programmers on Scratch for kids of 8-11 years old. For each class I with my son would think of a new game that would use new Scratch blocks. As a result, we have collected enough material for a whole book. In the fall of 2013 new children came to the club and the book was tested on them. The children made a few comments, I explained complex points in more detail, and now the book is published. Some children have already studied the whole book and are asking for a continuation! As of May 2014, the second book is already half finished. The children like studying the book a lot, because everything has been explained in great detail and does not require their parents' participation. The parents also like it because they can do their chores in the meantime. All the examples from the book are published on the website http://scratch.mit.edu/users/scratch_book

Praise and Reviews

A Book for Young Programmers On Scratch by Denis Golikov and Artem Golikov is about grasping the concepts of the program called Scratch. It is aimed at secondary grade children and it explains how to become familiar with the program and eventually progress to more complex ideas. I had never heard of this particular program before reviewing this book. At first glance I thought it would be something similar to other things on the market, but it was actually unique in its own right. You can change and add characters, animals, and even people. You also have the ability to create a simple platform which can become enhanced with practice.

I was very impressed with A Book for Young Programmers On Scratch. Denis and Artem Golikov are a father and son team, and they have captured the essence of a unique program and are keen to share their experiences with the rest of the world. As I began the book, the theories and diagrams looked easy to comprehend. However, the further I got into the book, the more I found things a little more complicated.

I ultimately downloaded the program onto my computer and went through each scenario, following closely the steps provided. With fifteen minutes I was in awe of this wonderful program. I may need a little more practice with the more challenging platforms but I found it exciting nevertheless. I think this book would be extremely beneficial to new users as it is written in a way which is clear to understand. Every different aspect and example is included and I was excited to read that a second book is almost finished. Overall, this book is easy to read and understand and the program called Scratch is a welcome revelation.."

Reviewed by Lisa Jones for readersfavorite.com