Computer III Programming-Week 5

So, this week was certainly an interesting one. I had to do my week 6 work along with my week 5 work because I am leaving on a trip at the end of this week. So, double the projects! But I'll discuss my week 6 work in my next blog. This week, I decided to start my work on Sunday (yes I was a dork) just so I could get it done earlier. First, I went and played Frogger because I honestly didn't remember it until I played it and was reminded of how addicting it is! Next, to get an idea of what Scratch was about, I looked "Scratch" up on Google and went to its main website where I watched tutorials and bookmarked "Help" screens. I then posted my findings on the Google discussion group. Afterwards, I plunged into making my game. At first I was kind of just throwing things together (an underwater background, a fish, squid, and sharks), but as time went on, I figured out things little by little. The "Help" screens definitely "helped" A LOT. They showed me how to use the "when green flag clicked button" to start off my game and the "when spacebar clicked (or any key really) button," which really helped with moving my fish around (up, down, left, and right). I then got my squid and sharks to move up and down to attempt at hitting the fish as it moved across the "ocean." I also used the tutorials to help me with this. And to figure the most of the rest of it out, I just played around with Scratch and tested different things out until I found what worked well; kind of like what I did with Alice. For example, I was able to figure out how to say things and make sounds (bubble noises and "you win" at the end of the game). The only thing that I had a really hard time figuring out was how to send the fish back to its starting position once it had been hit by a shark or a squid. I tried asking the group about it, but I didn't get a response so that didn't work out very well. I then tried looking it up on Google, but that was no help. Finally, after posing my question to the group for a second time and receiving no answer, I decided to re-read the Scratch help screen. I read every detail, and after countless times reviewing, I found my answer! I just put "when green flag clicked," "forever," "wait until ," and "go to x:-211 y:16 (the starting position of the fish)." This was definitely the hardest thing for me to figure out. I think what prevented me from learning more was myself. At first I thought that I didn't research deep enough, but the real answer was right in front of me! I even had the page BOOKMARKED! I just didn't read carefully enough. If I had done so, I definitely would have saved some time. Also, as I progressed in my project, I posted my discoveries on the discussion board. They were like my own mini-blogs! As for the project where the entire class had to propose an argument in favor of Facebook being used at Buckley, all I really did was look up some examples of why it should and why it shouldn't be used in schools. I got some good websites out of that and I posted a few on the discussion board. On the document itself, I posted possible reasons to use. Midway through the week, the group wasn't getting anywhere, but then, Shilpa stepped in and organized a plan to get the job done. So, I then picked my reason and wrote my paragraph. I think that I changed by becoming more knowledgeable about Scratch and Facebook. My work ethic and thinking changed by becoming more independent in my work. I found it very rewarding to learn something on my own; especially something that I was unfamiliar with and would have never thought that I would learn how to use (Scratch). In all, I thought that it was fun to make a video game and to propose an argument supporting Facebook.