Gateway introduces Scratch Programming to young learners

Gateway Kids School of Computing, the pioneer in IT training for kids, is to introduce ‘ Scratch’, a popular software, developed by MIT to teach young students programming concepts and develop skills in multimedia communication. It is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -and share your creations on the web with other students.

Scratch is a visually appealing and easy to use programming platform that is not only tremendous fun to learn, but also allows to painlessly reinforce key mathematics and computer science concepts that allow students to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

As it is such a constructive learning environment, Gateway has decided to introduce 3 fun filled workshops to chose from : Programme IT, Animate IT and Play IT; each with six exciting and interactive 2 hour modules that use Scratch to learn programming, animation and building games.

The Programme IT workshops are designed for the younger learners (7 to 11 year olds) that will enable them to learn programming concepts such as sequence, selection and repetition and even object oriented programming concepts such as threads, lists and events that will get them to build their own interactive programmes. In fact, Scratch teaches much more than computer programming - it teaches students to solve their own problems, and discover how to work things out for themselves.

Animate IT workshops are geared for the 11 to 14 year olds and they will be introduced to animation concepts and techniques such as storyboarding to create their own animations. They will make mannequins dance, make animals count and even animate the Water Cycle! The educational value of learning to create animations extends beyond providing an easy and interesting introduction to programming.

Students learn about ICT, media and communication. It requires logical thinking, critical reasoning, problem identification and problem solving skills. Creating animations develops knowledge of systems concepts such as coordinating, timing and interactions between “sprites”, sensing and feedback.

Play IT workshops will guide the students who are 14 years and above to create popular games such as Pac man, Pong, Space Invaders and Racing Cars. They will even learn to build games similar to Nintendo! Creating Computer Games engage with big ideas of programming - problem solving, thinking mathematically and using logic and reasoning. It’s the practical application of those ideas and the creative thinking required to build games that make these workshops truly engaging.

The Scratch workshops are to be initially conducted at the Colombo branches of the Gateway Kids Schools and at Gateway College Rajagiriya. They are open to students who are currently studying at Gateway as well as new comers. Our team of trainers is available to conduct these workshops in other schools on request.

Further details can be obtained by calling Surani, on 2670670 or writing to surani.maithripala@gateway.lk

Ours is one of a kind institution set up to confor m to International Standards. This in essence means that our setting is child focused and child