Scratch is a block-based visual programming language that allows young people to create digital stories, games, and animations. Scratch is designed, developed, and moderated by the Scratch Foundation, a non profit organization.
Scratch’s slogan is Imagine—Program—Share!. Scratch programs are made up of coloured blocks in different categories. Students can create programs by snapping different code blocks together in proper order.
Scratch can run from within a modern web browser or downloaded as an app.
It is available for free download at http://scratch.mit.edu. Once Scratch is downloaded to a computer, you do not need Internet access to create a project.
Who Uses Scratch?
Scratch is designed especially for ages 8 to 16, but is used by people of all ages. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically.
What students learn from Scratch?
Scratch will help kids to understand basic programming concepts. These concepts include variables, loops, functions, conditionals and lists. These concepts give kids an understanding of when and how to use them to create a code. Once kids are well-versed in Scratch, they can easily switch to text-based languages like Python and Java.
Today, facilitators worldwide use Scratch programming to teach students subjects like mathematics, music, art, design, and many more. Students can think of new ideas, implement them using scratch and can share them with their friends.