Scratch (AP CSP - PLTW)

Lesson 1.1 - Project Lead the Way Curriculum

Lesson 1.1 in the PLTW AP CSP course introduces basic programming concepts of branching, iteration, and variables using Scratch, a “block programming language”.  A significant amount of research, nicely summarized in this 2017 paper in the Communications of the ACM, indicates strongly that this approach works well for a wide variety of novices writing programs for the first time.

Assignment

In this assignment, you’ll complete the first student project in the course, Problem 1.1.7: Scratch Game or Story. If you’ve used Scratch before, you can probably jump right in and complete the project. If you’ve never used a block programming language, you can either:

1. Work through Activities 1.1.3 through 1.1.6 as your students will do; this is probably a good idea if you’re not an experienced programmer, or
2. Get a quick intro from the Get Started activity on the scratch.mit.edu website, and then explore on your own.

You will need to create a Scratch account for yourself; it's free.

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