QUESTION: Beginning programming for gamers?

Hello! I started a club this semester for grades 4-6 based on Scholastic's Gamestar Mechanic curriculum, and it was a HUGE success. The kids have been begging me to create a more advanced club for them to put into practice what they've learned through Gamestar, which was more conceptual than technical--it contained no actual programming. Can anyone recommend a free or cheap Mac-based tool for teaching beginning programming? Or even a different curriculum or program we could use to take these game makers to the next step?

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Permalink Reply by Rachael Ward on December 1, 2011 at 5:21pm

Well, I'm not sure if it is exactly what you are looking for but there is a game programming tool called Unity that I've heard about. Its supposed to be one of the best programs to help construct video games. Try looking into it at this website.

http://unity3d.com/unity/

I hope this helps.

Permalink Reply by Chris Ng on December 5, 2011 at 11:38pm

This may be of interest to you, but I do not believe this is available yet:

http://rapunsel.org/

Permalink Reply by Karen Finter on December 6, 2011 at 10:23am

Isn't there a program called "Alice" out of MIT? (ok, so I wonder, then I Google, and then I post...http://www.alice.org/index.php?page=sims_announcement/sims_announce... )

Permalink Reply by John Golden on December 7, 2011 at 11:25am

Scratch is pretty kid friendly programming. Also from MIT. http://scratch.mit.edu/

Greenfoot is supposed to be a great tool for learning Java. http://www.greenfoot.org/home

StatLogo is a mathy programming language that allows for neat things. Also also from MIT. http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/

But I think I'd do Lego Mindstorms if it was a possibility.

Permalink Reply by Helen on December 7, 2011 at 11:30am

The easiest program to use and is free is Scratch from MIT. It uses drag and drop objects that link together, and easily allows students to see what they have created. It teaches x, y coordinates and more. You can download an existing game or animation, see how it was created, and make changes to it to make it your own.

Easy for students to do - they can simply make their cat walk across the stage, and then move on from there. Used this for 3-8 grades, and students loved it.

Create interactive stories, games, art and more.
http://scratch.mit.edu/

Take a look at the gallery and see what students have created.

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Phillips on December 7, 2011 at 2:22pm

Here Here for Scratch! Easy to install. Easy to use.

Permalink Reply by Michael Brownstein on December 7, 2011 at 9:08pm

As others have mentioned Scratch is great. In addition to all of the reasons mentioned, there is also an incredibly active online Scratch community where users share projects, comment on projects, can download and remix projects, offer assistance through forums and some even collaborate online.

Squeak Toys is also good. Both are 2D environments. Alice is a bit more advanced in a 3D environment. Kodu is also 3D but I believe is only available for PC. My son has played around with Python which requires some knowledge of the language but still in an introductory manner.

Permalink Reply by Kelly Farrow on December 10, 2011 at 3:54pm

Thanks so much to everyone who's replied!! I will have lots to look up over the winter break! :) Has anyone used GameSalad? They seem VERY interested in helping educators out who want to use their free software. While most of their "modules" are for HS and up, they were willing to work w/ me since I'm in a K-6 building, as long as I get sign-off from the parents since their tools are supposed to be for those 13 and up. I've been very impressed w/ their responses when I've asked them Q's. I'd love to hear from anyone who's tried it out in a school setting.

QUESTION: Beginning programming for gamers?

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