Scratch Project III: Flappy Octopus (Scratch V3)

** Updated for Scratch version 3.**

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In this project, based on Flappy Birds, the player has to navigate an octopus through waves of hungry sharks.

There are so many really great sites offering Scratch Project ideas. However, many tend to be like recipes - follow the instructions and you’ll create a cake. The problem I find is that the students almost mechanically enter code and create “delicious cakes”, but without learning an awful lot about Scratch.

My goal is to get students to create a fun project, whilst at the same time learn how the instructions work and fit together. To this end, I use the following approach:

• break the project down into manageable chunks
• present students with an algorithm for each chunk
• provide students with the instructions for each algorithm, but jumbled up
  In this way, students learn about algorithms (a VERY important part of coding), and have to understand the instructions in order to sequence them to correctly match the algorithm.

The lessons comprise:

• a PowerPoint with introductory slides, together with the project instructions
• a Word document with the PowerPoint instruction slides printed 2 to a page as a handout for students to follow
• accompanying fully-working Scratch project files for teachers that match each chunk of the project
  Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be).

ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

Teacher/Author: Barrie James
Search words: scratch, computer, programming, coding, algorithm