Ruzanna's Reflections:
3 Content/Knowledge Skills that I Learnt:
1) The Scratch Programme Jargon – The Scratch programme is aimed to make programming easy, hence, from what I understand their jargon differs slightly from normal programming. Hence, a content skill that I have learnt is that I can fully understand the Scratch jargon.
2) How to Work Scratch to Produce Games/Interactive Animation – As mentioned in the previous point, I have learnt the Scratch jargon. From there, we slowly found out how to work Scratch mainly through trial and error and figuring out the correct combination to use to make a ‘command’. Through this we managed to learn how each function works and therefore were able to produce games and interactive animation.
3) What is expected from the Scratch Programme – The aim of the Scratch programme is essentially to introduce programming to younger people. So, the Scratch programme is a platform to learn. That is why the functions are very straightforward which makes it easy for other people to read the ‘script’. This is also why we are expected add comments beside each function in the ‘script’ to explain clearly the use of the function and the effect it has on either the ‘Stage’ (background) or ‘Sprite’ (character).
2 Interesting Aspects of your Learning:
1) Learning Something Totally New – Programming was a whole new idea to me. I have never done anything remotely close to programming. Hence, I felt this was the most interesting aspect of my learning because doing something new means adapting to a new situation which is a change from what you usually do. So, this being something out of the ordinary for me, made it interesting.
2) The Social Skills Involved in Programming – This is not so much social skills than relating to the audience. When creating games we have to always consider what is appealing to the audience. This includes graphics, how interesting the game is depending on the age of the players and more. Also, while writing the comments for each function we had to consider the fact that the people who would be using our ‘scripts’ as reference range from lower primary students to lower secondary students. So, we had to ensure that our comments were effective in explaining the functions to students of that age range.
1 Take Away for Life
1) Patience and Working with a Clear Mind – I realise that throughout the work attachment that the only way to actually accomplish anything is to work with patience and a clear mind. As cliché as that sounds, it is very true. Our patience was tested when the ‘script’ we come up with should work as it was seemingly flawless. We would try and try again and things would just keep going wrong. So, once in a while we needed to take a break and clear our heads. Once we came back with clear minds we managed to work through the problem. This is very relevant to our daily lives whenever we face a hard situation. Hence, this would be the biggest take away for life during the WOW attachment.
Steven's Reflections:
3 Content/Knowledge skills that I learnt:
1. Scratch Programming Language
Through the times spent using the program, I learnt a lot of the terms of programming using Scratch. I found out that most of the terms used are similar to that of other programming languages so by learning to use Scratch (the easier type of programming) I hope that other programming languages will be easier to pick up.
2. Connecting Scratch with other devices
From the experience that we had in Science Centre Singapore and the scratch program, I learnt that with the correct hardwares and the correct drivers, we can connect programs with other devices that were not originally designed to work with it. For an example, it is actually possible to connect Kinect (a xbox add on) to scratch and then program games to be used with kinect.
3. Many things can be made through scratch
After we have learnt the language of scratch, we realised that many things could be made from scratch (no pun intended). We could use scratch to create games, animations etc. Even in the scratch gallery, we saw a lot of other projects that has even educational projects. I believe that if you have the creativity, you can do anything with scratch.
2 Interesting Aspects of your learning
1. Something interesting thing that i learnt while doing this attachment was the many things a normal programmer would do. For example, normally when programmers share their scripts with each other, they would comment on the side to tell the others what they are doing with those particular scripts. Also, for scratch, i learnt that putting scripts together can make the scripts react faster to each other. This does not seem like a big deal but in the end product, even a few milliseconds matters. I guess through the weeks, i learnt to think like a programmer too, making sure that everything goes smoothly and making sure that all obstacles/loopholes are thought through.
2. Another interesting lesson that i learnt through this attachment was that things are not as easy as they seem. When you look at games and animations, you would think that they are easy to make as long as you have the right tools, but i have learnt that this is not true. When I was doing a game as classic as "Pacman", i encountered a number of difficulties that i did not even consider before starting on the game. I first thought that making the game would be a walk in the park but this is not true and quite the opposite. Through this, i have learnt truly not to judge this before i actually tried it.
1 Take Away for Life
One thing that i really can take away from this attachment is learning to persevere even if things do not seem to go your way. When we were doing the projects, there were countless problems popping up from everywhere. We had to slowly counter every one of them and persevere. Sometimes i feel like giving up but as long as i persevere, the end product always gives satisfaction. Making some of the games were harder than others but they all give a certain level of satisfaction.
Steven's Reflections:
3 Content/Knowledge skills that I learnt:
1. Scratch Programming Language
Through the times spent using the program, I learnt a lot of the terms of programming using Scratch. I found out that most of the terms used are similar to that of other programming languages so by learning to use Scratch (the easier type of programming) I hope that other programming languages will be easier to pick up.
2. Connecting Scratch with other devices
From the experience that we had in Science Centre Singapore and the scratch program, I learnt that with the correct hardwares and the correct drivers, we can connect programs with other devices that were not originally designed to work with it. For an example, it is actually possible to connect Kinect (a xbox add on) to scratch and then program games to be used with kinect.
3. Many things can be made through scratch
After we have learnt the language of scratch, we realised that many things could be made from scratch (no pun intended). We could use scratch to create games, animations etc. Even in the scratch gallery, we saw a lot of other projects that has even educational projects. I believe that if you have the creativity, you can do anything with scratch.
2 Interesting Aspects of your learning
1. Something interesting thing that i learnt while doing this attachment was the many things a normal programmer would do. For example, normally when programmers share their scripts with each other, they would comment on the side to tell the others what they are doing with those particular scripts. Also, for scratch, i learnt that putting scripts together can make the scripts react faster to each other. This does not seem like a big deal but in the end product, even a few milliseconds matters. I guess through the weeks, i learnt to think like a programmer too, making sure that everything goes smoothly and making sure that all obstacles/loopholes are thought through.
2. Another interesting lesson that i learnt through this attachment was that things are not as easy as they seem. When you look at games and animations, you would think that they are easy to make as long as you have the right tools, but i have learnt that this is not true. When I was doing a game as classic as "Pacman", i encountered a number of difficulties that i did not even consider before starting on the game. I first thought that making the game would be a walk in the park but this is not true and quite the opposite. Through this, i have learnt truly not to judge this before i actually tried it.
1 Take Away for Life
One thing that i really can take away from this attachment is learning to persevere even if things do not seem to go your way. When we were doing the projects, there were countless problems popping up from everywhere. We had to slowly counter every one of them and persevere. Sometimes i feel like giving up but as long as i persevere, the end product always gives satisfaction. Making some of the games were harder than others but they all give a certain level of satisfaction.
