Tool: Scratch
One of my absolute favorite things that I saw when I visited the MIT Media Lab back in 2011 was the Lifelong Kindergarten area. According to their website:
The Lifelong Kindergarten group develops technologies, activities, and communities to engage young people from diverse backgrounds in creative learning experiences, so they can develop their thinking, their voices, and their identities. We are deeply committed to bringing about change in the world and improving the lives of young people, especially those from communities that face systemic inequities and injustices.
While there, I saw an amazing coding language developed specifically for kids called Scratch. You can use Scratch to have students code their own interactive stories, animations, and games. In the process, they learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively . Educators are integrating Scratch across many different subject areas and age groups. Scratch is 100% FREE, and was launched back in 2007 by Mitch Resnick as a super simple object oriented programming language. Here is a great TEDx Talk, given by Resnick 10 years ago, about Scratch:
One of my favorite things about Scratch is the ability for students to create music projects - basically making their own music software. There are literally THOUSANDS of student-created music programs available on the site. Want to see something really cool, that reinforces my firm stance that kids will always know more than adults when it comes to technology? Here is a wonderful tutorial video created by a young student on how to make music in Scratch:
There are MANY ways to use Scratch in your music classes. The Scratch website has some great ideas, but here a few more:
You can App Smash Scratch and Spotify to make a very cool Radio program.
Create a BeatBox Machine - lots of fun!
Create a interactive piano - and change the sounds!
Rickroll your friends - never gets old!
Trumpet Music Maker is a great way to assess students understanding of the instrument.
Create your own Virtual Drumset!
Just like the Math, Science, Music website I mentioned in my last post, Scratch is a perfect way to integrate STEM into your music curriculum, and it’s fun. There are LOTS of great resources out there to help you learn how to use Scratch.
Learn from Scratch website
One very cool add-on that I will discuss in a future post is a product called Makey Makey. This amazing tool allows you to physically interact with your Scratch projects. More to come on that…