I will be teaching a
mathematics class this Fall for middle and high school math teachers. The
course requires that students do a bit of programming in the Scratch
environment. To smooth their entry into Scratch, I have written three Getting
Started with Scratch documents.
The
first document guides the reader through the steps of building a script that
draws a square with a side length of 100 steps. This introduces the blocks menu
and the mechanics of connecting blocks together to build a script.
The second document describes how to
create variables, sliders, and how to set the minimum and maximum values in a
slider. The size of the square is now under variable control.
The
third document helps the reader build a script that will draw any regular
polygon. In a regular polygon the side lengths are equal. A slider controls the number of sides and again, the side
length is controlled by a slider.
The relationship between the number of sides and the turn angle for a regular polygon of n sides requires a bit of mathematical analysis.
The relationship between the number of sides and the turn angle for a regular polygon of n sides requires a bit of mathematical analysis.
You
may request any or all of these documents—in PDF format— by sending an email to: grandadscience@gmail.com.
Getting Started with Scratch - Part 1
Getting
Started with Scratch - Part 2
Getting
Started with Scratch - Part 3