Scratch: Game Development

Course Info

Level 1 of the Coder’s Ladder® is the entry point for Elementary School age students 8 to 11 years old. It is designed for beginner students new to coding or students with prior coding experience who need a more structured program to strengthen their understanding and skill application of fundamental programming concepts.

The focus of Level 1 is to teach students the core Computer Science concepts. Students apply these concepts by building games and projects using the drag and drop environment, Scratch. Level 1 gets students passionate about coding as they experience coding as creative, fun, and doable!

The Level 1 curriculum teaches coding as a sequence of instructions, core programming concepts (such as Variables, Loops, Conditionals, and Functions), and basic game development concepts (such as Key-based Controls and Event Handling). Students build various projects, including thrilling maze games, interactive arcade games (such as a car racing game), art and animated stories, and quiz programs. In addition, students learn problem-solving and practice design, testing, and debugging skills.

Level 1 graduates are familiar with programming terms and confident in their understanding of fundamental coding concepts. Most importantly, students can independently build simple games and projects using the online platform, Scratch.

Tools/Languages

Scratch

Prerequisites

None

Graduation Criteria

Demonstrated understanding of:

• Programming concepts: conditionals, loops, functions, and variables

• Art: use bitmap and vector graphics editors, build animations.

• Scratch specific concepts: broadcasting, cloning

• Basic debugging techniques

Examples of projects students can build on their own:

• Interactive story
• Interactive two-sprite game
• Maze game