More quizzes in Scratch
| Aim | This workshop involves the use of Scratch to develop animated quizzes. The pupils learn and develop multiple skills by this kind of activity. |
|---|---|
| Duration | up to 28 hours (1 semester) |
| Technology | Scratch programming environment, online access to resources |
| Materials | No special materials |
| Student/teacher Ratio | 10-16 students / teacher |
| Student/resource Ratio | 1-2 students/computer |
| Age of students | 11+ years old |
Step by step overview
First, the students will be getting familiar with the process of devising generic questions related to the disciplines of study: mathematics, geography, biology, arts, history.
Then, the pupils will associate one correct and a number of wrong answers to each question. This requires a little bit of creativity in order to provide incorrect answers that may trick the inattentive/careless audience. For each discipline there is a set of 5 to 10 questions that will provide a final score per test for the student taking the quiz.
Scratch is used to program the sequence of questions, to get the user’s answer, to check the correctness of the answer, and to react accordingly by returning an X for an incorrect answer or a tick for those correct.
The use of English is not mandatory, but it is most appreciated in the class. So students that want a higher grade usually provide the material in English. This obviously helps build up their vocabulary and also the need for learning the grammar and the specific syntax of the language (which is not always similar to the children native language). It looks like the experiment of learning English by means of Scratch and stories has been turning out well with these classes. The results of this are visible in the grades obtained by children in formal English tests.
The creativity of the students is also reflected in the graphical design of quizzes, despite the need to preserve the common structure of the questions. Hopefully these kind of activities may also trigger an appetite for learning within these young students.
Tips to make the workshop go smoothly
- Make sure that pupils and yourself are comfortable with the topics on the board.
- Make sure that pupils have their preparatory work done before starting the activity. They need to have structured the information that will be included in the quizzes.
- Allow them to consult support materials at all time during the development of quizzes.
- Confer with other teaching colleagues and ask their help in structuring / validating the information.
Extensions and challenges
- For each quiz, add the ability to provide a score per test and per user.
- Encourage pupils to upload their projects onto the Scratch platform and then follow / take each others’ quizzes.
Sources of additional information
- Scratch programming platform, available at http://scratch.mit.edu
- Scratch international programming trial – http://www.nonformal.ro/en/content/script
- International Hour of Code initiative, available at http://hourofcode.com
- The Scratch Club of Romania - http://scratch.infobits.ro/