Similar to Minecraft, Scratch is an open-ended and collaborative tool and thus exploratory learning is key to the effectiveness of the platform. As a result, it gives a multitude of opportunities to assess a wide variety of skills and core competencies. Let us consider a recent small scale case study and discuss a couple missed opportunities for assessment.
CASE STUDYStudents at Redmond Middle School were given an opportunity to learn how to code using Scratch in an after-school program. The lesson involved a couple parts:
|
Assessment Opportunity #2: Thinking
Since there was no real direction on how students should modify the game, the instructor received a wide variety of modified games. This created a situation where it was difficult to assess any type of skill or core competency. If the Instructor introduced a qualifying task, then certain skills like thinking could have been assessed. For instance, the instructor could have requested that the students modify the game so that the difficulty was increased to the point that any person would fail within 1 minute. An Instructor could then evaluate each student's thinking around how they would accomplish this modification.
|