There’s a greater need for creative thinking today than ever before, and new technologies are offering new ways to help young people develop as creative thinkers…Creative thinking has always been, and will always be, a central part of what makes life worth living. Life as a creative thinker can bring not only economic rewards, but also joy, fulfillment, purpose, and meaning. Children deserve nothing less.
-Mitchel Resnick, Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play. (2017)
Computer science (CS) is revolutionizing all of our lives. Innovations in computation drive our economy and underlie almost all our advances in science and engineering. To flourish in today’s world, everyone needs to understand not only how to effectively use computers and technology, but also computational thinking. Although computational thinking is a fundamental skill for everyone, not just for computer scientists, most individuals are not exposed to it.
Host a Scratch Club at your School or Organization
Clubs run for 10-12 weeks over the course of UW-Madison’s semester and most sites host clubs for both semesters of the school year. Fall clubs run from late-September to mid-December. Spring clubs run from mid-February through the beginning of May. Clubs do not take place the week of Thanksgiving or Spring Break. We have found that clubs held on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays immediately after-school (e.g., from 3:30 – 4:30) fit best with UW and MMSD schedules. We do not charge a fee for facilitating clubs.
Host organizations interested in hosting a club agree to provide:
- A Site Coordinator from your school to help handle administrative details (e.g., a member of the PTO or a teacher)
- Enroll 8 to 20 4th and 5th graders who are committed to attending the club weekly. Children who are repeatedly disruptive in the club will not be able to remain in our program. Different children can be enrolled each semester. We can accommodate both beginners and returning students. If you have more than 20 students interested in the club, we prefer that priority be given to students in this order:
- who increase the diversity of your club
- who are new to Scratch
- who are in 5th grade
- who were on a waiting list from a previous semester
- Adult supervision of the club each week (e.g., a parent or teacher). This may or may not be the same as the Site Coordinator. The adult supervisor is responsible for taking attendance and ensuring that all children are picked up after the club. The adult supervisor will support classroom management as well as handle any injury or illness during the club.
- Provide periodic feedback to the UW students about their performance.
- Computers (desktop, laptops, or chromebooks) capable of running the web-based version of Scratch. Scratch is free (from http://scratch.mit.edu) and on the approved list of software for MMSD.
- A classroom or library space with a projector or TV monitor.
Please email CS402 Instructor Peter Kirschmann if you are interested in planning a club for a future semester. We typically select club sites at least one semester ahead of time.
Testimonials
Lowell Elementary: “Having Scratch at our school has been so beneficial! We have been able to have a class for students in our after school program as well as another club on Tuesday evenings for kids who are not in the after school program. We are able to teach computer skills outside of the regular day, offer a safe/supervised activity at our school, and create valuable connections and opportunities for the UW students.”
Thoreau Elementary: “Scratch Club is incredibly popular at our school. We have to hold a lottery each semester because we regularly receive over 25% more student registrations than spaces available in Scratch Club. We appreciate UW’s commitment to the program and the talented UW students placed at Thoreau each semester.”
Muir Elementary: “The program is a wonderful example of outreach and community involvement for the UW students. It’s also a tangible way for students who may not have the opportunity (our school has a very diverse population) to learn about Computer Science and programming as a field and career. The fact that we have been able to offer this program at no cost to our students has been a true gift.”
Marquette Elementary: “The UW students come with great smiles and fun ideas and lots of energy (needed to keep up with 4th and 5th graders). The kids love what they are creating and they love having college kids show it to them. This is a great program. The only downside is having to turn away so many kids that want to try programming in Scratch because there just were not enough spots for them all.”
Madison Children’s Museum: “…the club at MCM has been extremely popular and has helped us bring more STEM programming to our visitors. … We are proud to be part of this fantastic project and it has been amazing to see it grow and change.”