Press the green flag to begin.

If the ball sticks on the paddle, press the green flag until it frees up.

Use the arrow keys to score points.

This process was really unique and different from most art processes I am used to. There was a lot of trouble shooting and discoveries that had to be made using the tutorials to make the game function. I found the tutorials to be super helpful and they really walked me through building the game, step by step. This relates to the design thinking process because I would try something and press the green flag to see if it worked and if not, I would try again until I figured it out. It was a great experience to be a able to design our own game because it allowed us to define a problem and create our own unique solutions. Once we had something put together, we were able to share what we created with our groups. It is always rewarding to finish something and share with your peers what you have done.

Working in groups was helpful because if there was a question, I could look to my classmates for the potential answer. The first day of using scratch, there was a lot of trial and error and less communication with classmates because we were all trying to figure it out at the same time. Once we got to meet again after we had created our games, we were able to help each other with trouble shooting because we had a few days to work with the program and make our own discoveries.

This activity connects to my prior knowledge of art and art education because when learning a new medium, there are a lot of discoveries to be made followed by a lot of trouble shooting. Although we weren’t necessarily creating an art project, we were using the similar processes to the arts in order to understand the different capabilities of Scratch. By creating a game using our own artwork, we were able to combine our artwork with technology in a new and different way.

I would use this activity in my future art classroom as a way to show students that there are a wide variety of opportunities in the arts field, not just traditional art making. Connecting art projects with technology can develop a really great way of thinking because it allows students to use their prior knowledge in the arts along with a new type of media. In my classroom, I would have the students learn the basics of Scratch and then design their own backgrounds and sprites like we are doing. I would could use this as a photo project and have the students take photos, edit them and use them for the backgrounds of their games. By doing this, students would still be thinking about creating a composition with intent to further explore the image. Using scratch in this way allows students apply their traditional art making skills to digital visual cultures.