Original posted by Brogan Pratt on May 29, 2019
Mitchel Resnick is known as the godfather of Scratch Game Creator. He is the Lego Papert Professor of Learning Research at MIT, the Director of Okawa Center, and the Director of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT. With an impressive number of developmental tool creations under his belt, he has supported:
- The creation of Scratch game creator, along with co-founders Brian Silverman and Paula Bonta
- The building blocks of “LEGO Mindstorms” coding software
However, he is most well known for the creation of the visual programming language “Scratch”, but often times is referred to as “blockly”. If you’re ever seen code like this before in an elementary school coding app,
Then you can thank Mitchel.
Mitchel’s guiding theory behind Scratch comes from Constructionist pedagogy, which is essentially constructivism in the physical environment (rather than the contructing of mental schemas, it is the physical act of building projects that best creates these new schemas), and focuses on project based learning styles. Mitchel and his co-founders clearly have a drive for scientific research and a venture spirit judging by the enormous success of their non-profit venture. They know how to create valuable content, as well as how to market this content to the broader community; perhaps not all on their own with help from their other group members and the MIT university as well.
Scratch Game Creator
If you’ve never played scratch before, you can check out some well known top games here. The experience is best on a desktop computer, but has recently become functional on mobile devices as well (though it should be noted the functionality is not perfect).
Scratch allows users to create their own video games in a visual language. Check out the link above for some fairly impressive coding feats for the platforms abilities. You’d be hard pressed to believe that students made these!
Scratch is a completely free, not-for-profit educational resource. Awesome.
The Scratch Team
It is difficult to narrow down the scratch team, having had over 63 members in the past who have had an involvement in the program’s development and current state. Almost all members have been Masters or PHD students at MIT, or have been visiting scientists, researchers, and programmers from various other universities around the globe. With how popular Scratch is, and how well the platform performs, it is clear that this team definitely has what it takes to make, and continue to develop, a successful not-for-profit learning venture.
I chose to repost Mitchel Resnick’s work on Scratch because of its relevance in today’s classroom, students get the chance to collaborate using interactive stories, animations, and games. I particularly admire his guided Constructivist pedagogical approach which allows educators to create a hands-on learning experience, where the ideas of students and how they choose to learn are facilitated. This is one of the most inspiring inventions for children because it embraces critical thinking and still remains relevant.
Hi Analesa, I saw this in use not just in schools, but in post secondary and some online courses. Alongside my post on freecodecamp, it seems learning programming at an early age, or even providing tools such as this, will develop skills to further for kids and students alike later in life. Wish I had something akin to this early on. 🙂
I share the same sentiments Luke! Thanks for your response
It piqued my interest to know that there was a Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT and that Michael was the director of it. The group is committed to improving the lives of the youngest learners by developing technologies for them to engage with. As a Kindergarten teacher, I greatly appreciate this focus on the early years and have used Scratch Jr in the classroom. It’s simplicity and block approach simplifies coding for the early years and was a great starting point to the coding world as an educator with little to no coding experience. Scratch has grown and there is a Scratch community that welcomes people to “create, share, and learn together.” The inclusive nature of the program promotes active learning for students to learn from one another in the wider, digital community.