Creating opportunities for caregivers to teach computational thinking
Toolset: Fresco, Photoshop, Illustrator
When thinking about computer science education, programming languages and IDEs might come to mind first. There is so much more to it though, and building a strong foundation in computation thinking is essential not only to computer science, but many 21st century domains. While schools are pivotal here, finding ways to empower parents to model these skills creates unique opportunities for bonds to strengthen and children’s motivation to flourish. The Scratch Storybook’s aim is to accomplish exactly this, and without a computer. Children read a story about Scratchy the cat’s morning, and along the way help it to complete tasks requiring computational thinking such as pattern recognition and problem solving.
The interactions are really pseudo-interactions, in the spirit of popular children’s shows where the characters turn and request help from the viewer. The story will progress with or without input, but the children watching are convinced that they’re participating in its events. Through the book’s design and caregivers’ partnership, children are encouraged to reflect and consider how they would solve Scratchy’s problems, before turning the page and witnessing how things would have happened.