Tech Probes: Using Scratch to Teach Critical Thinking Skills

Friday, March 30, 2012

Using Scratch to Teach Critical Thinking Skills

In our ever changing world, tools, gadgets, learning and working environment are continually changing, or evolving brought about by technological innovation. What is the current gadgets now may just be an older version next month. Before distance education means being sent packets of learning materials augmented by radio educational programs geared for home schooled children. Now it means being able to access a learning management system like Blackboard, Moodle, Sakai, etc. In the old days students are shown films, slides in projector. Now students watch streaming videos on their laptops, tablets, and even phones. That's why the role of schools is actually to teach critical thinking skills to children since the knowledge, concepts and skills that they are learning in school may not be that up-to-date by the time they are ready for the work force.

Teaching Scratch to students foster critical thinking skills. "Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art ---and share your creations on the web"Scratch Website. Critical Thinking is defined by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul (during the 8th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education reform, 1987) as "the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action" The Critical Thinking Community.

Here are Scratch projects I created just for fun.
dancing