Tech News 15 May 2007 - Harvard...
1
Spring Hill Tech Club Volume 2, # 1 13 Sept 2007 —1— Tech News First Tech Club of the Year Kevin Karplus Thursday 13 is the first day of Tech Club for the year. Like last year, it will be a free drop-in after- school activity for 4 th , 5 th , and 6 th graders. There are two major differences: we’ll be meeting in Ms. Riddle’s 3 rd grade classroom (since it has the most computers) and we’ll be meeting on Thursdays, since that is when I can get time away from work. For most club meetings, kids can just drop in if they have time (I understand that homework loads,sports, music, dance, and other activities will often interfere), but some meetings will require prepayment of a mate- rial fee for projects in which we build some hardware. We have a lot of possible projects for this year, and I welcome ideas for other projects. Of course, we’ll spend a lot of time programming video games and animations in scratch, the free programming language for kids from MIT. I also hope to do some soldering projects this year also—perhaps making some blink- ing lights projects (like electronic dice or a stroboscope) or a small robot (like a solar roller). We can also work on making chainmail (in conjunc- tion with the 5 th and 6 th grade history class), tablet weaving, and other non-electronic technology. This Tech News newsletter will come out each week, but with a difference from last year—this year I’d like about half the content to come from the kids. Abe has volunteered to write a weekly Scratch Tips column, and Grant to draw a Scratch Comics cartoon. Submis- sions are needed a week ahead of time, so that I can get the Tech News laid out over the weekend. Scratch Tips: Go To vs. Glide Abe Karplus There are many ways in Scratch of getting your sprite to move around the screen. The simplest way is [move (m) steps], which moves your sprite m pixels in the direction it is pointing. There is also [go to x:(x) y:(y)], which will set your sprite’s position to x,y. In a similar vein are the [set x (x)] and [set y (y)] com- mands, which are like half of “go to”. They have their counterparts, [change x by (x)] and [change y by (y)]. Last is [glide (t) seconds to x:(x) y:(y)], which is a “go to” stretched out over t seconds. Scratch Comics by Grant Simmons Scratch at Home The programming language scratch is available free from http://scratch.mit.edu for both Windows and Mac OS X machines. I strongly recommend that fami- lies with computers download a copy for use at home, as the Tech Club time is not long enough for program- ming complicated games. Also kids will want to show you what they’ve done! The MIT site also has forums for discussing scratch and getting help, and program- sharing site that has source code from over 28,000 projects that students can use for inspiration in their own projects.
Transcript of Tech News 15 May 2007 - Harvard...
Spring Hill Tech Club Volume 2, # 1 13 Sept 2007
—1—
Tech NewsFirst Tech Club of the YearKevin Karplus
Thursday 13 is the first day of Tech Club for theyear. Like last year, it will be a free drop-in after-school activity for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. There aretwo major differences: we’ll be meeting in Ms.Riddle’s 3rd grade classroom (since it has the mostcomputers) and we’ll be meeting on Thursdays, sincethat is when I can get time away from work.
For most club meetings, kids can just drop in if theyhave time (I understand that homework loads,sports,music, dance, and other activities will often interfere),but some meetings will require prepayment of a mate-rial fee for projects in which we build some hardware.
We have a lot of possible projects for this year, and Iwelcome ideas for other projects. Of course, we’llspend a lot of time programming video games andanimations in scratch, the free programming languagefor kids from MIT. I also hope to do some solderingprojects this year also—perhaps making some blink-ing lights projects (like electronic dice or astroboscope) or a small robot (like a solar roller).
We can also work on making chainmail (in conjunc-tion with the 5thand 6th grade history class), tabletweaving, and other non-electronic technology.
This Tech News newsletter will come out each week,but with a difference from last year—this year I’d likeabout half the content to come from the kids. Abe hasvolunteered to write a weekly Scratch Tips column,and Grant to draw a Scratch Comics cartoon. Submis-sions are needed a week ahead of time, so that I canget the Tech News laid out over the weekend.
Scratch Tips: Go To vs. GlideAbe Karplus
There are many ways in Scratch of getting yoursprite to move around the screen. The simplest way is[move (m) steps], which moves your sprite m pixels inthe direction it is pointing. There is also [go to x:(x)y:(y)], which will set your sprite’s position to x,y. In asimilar vein are the [set x (x)] and [set y (y)] com-mands, which are like half of “go to”. They have theircounterparts, [change x by (x)] and [change y by (y)].Last is [glide (t) seconds to x:(x) y:(y)], which is a “goto” stretched out over t seconds.Scratch Comics by Grant Simmons
Scratch at HomeThe programming language scratch is available free
from http://scratch.mit.edu for both Windows andMac OS X machines. I strongly recommend that fami-lies with computers download a copy for use at home,as the Tech Club time is not long enough for program-ming complicated games. Also kids will want to showyou what they’ve done! The MIT site also has forumsfor discussing scratch and getting help, and program-sharing site that has source code from over 28,000projects that students can use for inspiration in theirown projects.
