Bouncing Donuts
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| Click on image to view video of the 'Bouncing Donuts' game. |
Before engaging with the
extension project, I decided to research online resources for teaching Scratch.
The internet contained a vast number of tutorials containing varying degrees of
difficulty for the programmer in written and video forms. Some sites were more
informative than others with regard to the pace in which tutorials were delivered
and the amount of visual and oral support provided.
I found the tutorials provided
in the SCRATCHED site to be the most suitable as they seemed to
focus on one aspect at a time and were very straightforward. However, after
viewing all of this information I decided to use the scratch information
provided to me on study desk and experiment with it to independently make
additions to the pong game.
This project was a
lot more challenging than I initially thought it would be. To start with, I
selected a bright colourful background for my stage as I thought it would be appealing
to an audience. Instead of a ball, I added three party hats and programmed them
to continually move in different directions and gain speed when they were in
contact with a paddle. I then included three paddles, two the same size and one
slightly larger. Two paddles were fixed and positioned mid screen at differing
levels with the larger third paddle being movable at the bottom of the screen. All
paddles were programmed to deflected objects and accumulate points. Although
the programming was reasonably easy, I found the function of the paddles and the
hats very difficult to manage.
The hats were triangular and
this inhibited their movement and response when they hit a paddle. After trying
for some time to rectify the problem, I resorted to changing the hats for
donuts. The round objects were more successful and responded well to the set parameters.
The stage also inhibited programming, as it was difficult to select a colour
for the paddles and the stop all line that were not included in the stage.
Although
this project offered some challenges, it was a very engaging activity where I had
to use critical and creative thinking to achieve a successful outcome. Critical
and creative thinking is one of the general capabilities out lined in the
Australian Curriculum: Technologies. It states, “Students develop capability in
critical and creative thinking as they learn to generate and evaluate
knowledge, clarify concepts and ideas, seek possibilities, consider
alternatives and solve problems” (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and
Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2013, p. 14).
This project links to the
Draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies:-
Design
and Technologies Foundation to Year 10 scope and sequence strand Design and
Technologies processes and production skills – Sub-strand – Generating,
developing and evaluating ideas:-
·
4.6 Generate, develop, evaluate, communicate
and document design ideas and design decisions using manual and digital
technologies
·
6.7 Generate, develop, evaluate, communicate
and document design ideas and processes for a range of audiences, using some
relevant technical terminology
Digital
Technologies Foundation to Year 10 scope and sequence strand Digital
Technologies processes and production skills – Sub-strand – Specification,
algorithms and implementation:-
·
4.6 Design and implement simple visual
programs with user input and branching
·
6.7 Design and implement digital solutions
using visual programs with user input, branching and iteration
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2013). Draft Australian curriculum: Technologies. Retrieved May 13, 2013, from http://consultation.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Static/docs/Technologies/Draft%20Australian%20Curriculum%20Technologies%20-%20February%202013.pdf
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