Week 2: Learn to code in Scratch

July 13, 2021

Overview: Put last week’s analogy into practice and become familiar with coding basics by learning to code in Scratch.

Activity	Time	Additional Info
Accounts	30 min	Continue getting accounts set up
Animate a Character (group challenge)	10 min	See details below
Pair challenge 1	15 min	Get your character to navigate around an object
Pair challenge 2	15 min	Make your character move around with sound effects
Solutions for challenge 1 and 2	10 min	Explore paired solutions

Claim your Northeastern account:

Part 2:

Follow the steps in the email you recieve after approval, which are also outlined here.

If you can’t find the email:

Go to this link.
Click “Request access”.
Click “Activate Account” (under “Faculty, Staff & Sponsored Accounts”).

Part 3:

Submit a second form to get a sponsored Discovery account in addition to a sponsored NEU ID.

Animate a Character (group challenge)

1) Click on the “Animate a Character” challenge on the Scratch website.
2) Watch the tutorial.
3) Together, let’s animate a character! Our first challenge will be to use at least one type of sensing control and two types of motions, looks, or sounds to animate our character.

For help with the specific functions, Scratch’s “animation cards” are here.

Find step-by-step screenshots and an example solution here.

“Animate a Character” Paired Challenges

Challenge #1

Your first challenge is to navigate one sprite around another sprite. Your first sprite (the mover) is located at (-180, -100) and the second sprite (the stationary object) is located at (0, 0). Make the first sprite move to the opposite corner of the screen and then change “costume” for 1 second, all without touching the second sprite. For this challenge, choose one person to be the driver (writes the code) and the other person be the navigator (helps to debug code and find the correct functions).

Link to guide screenshots and an example solution.

Challenge #2

After your first sprite is finished successfully navigating, your second challenge is to make your second sprite (now the mover) move to 20 random positions around the board with the control that if sprites touch (now the first sprite is the stationary object), a sound is played. For this challenge, switch roles of driver and navigator.