In one Indiana school district, students learned the basics of computer coding through Scratch Day 2015—a day dedicated to Scratch, a computer program that serves as an educational programming language for students in third grade and above.

Scratch, a program invented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is easy for students to use as they start to get to know and experience early interest in computer programming.

Since Computer programming is one of the STEM subjects that advocates say teach kids to be more computer literate and to best adapt for the future, many educators appreciate the ease with which Scratch teaches early learners.

"'I introduce it to students, can walk away, and when I come back, they are 'teaching' me things," [technology integration specialist Olga] Granat said. 'Students, regardless of their academic backgrounds, pick up the language quickly. ... It can truly equalize the playing field for many students,' she said," according to the NWITimes.com.

The possibilities that Scratch offers are plentiful, as the program enables students to create a variety of different things, such as "interactive stories, games, animation and musical projects."

Educators everywhere are in agreement that coding is an important skill for young learners, and according to its site, Scratch Day was celebrated in upwards of 300 different places. 

"'When you learn to code, you start thinking about processes in the world,'says Mitchell Resnick, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor heading up the effort to build the child-friendly programming language Scratch," according to The Wall Street Journal. 

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

05/12/2015