Scratch 3.0 and a New Creative Computing Curriculum Guide

Earlier this summer I shared the news that Scratch 3.0 would be available in a beta form in August. August is still a couple of hours away, but Scratch 3.0 is actually available now. I just went to the Scratch 3.0 beta site and it is live. You can try the new Scratch online editor right now!

Scratch 3.0 offers the following new features:

• A new extension system for programming physical devices.
• New characters, sounds, and backgrounds.
• Updated editors for characters and sounds.
• Improved support for use on tablets. 

It is important to note that Scratch 3.0 is still a beta product. The full, stable version is expected to be ready in January. The current desktop and browser versions of Scratch (Scratch 2.0) are still available and all projects created in those versions will continue to work as normal. 

New Creative Computing Curriculum Guide!

A big Scratch conference at MIT just wrapped-up. I wish that I could have gone. Fortunately, some of the conference presentation resources are available online. One of those resources is the new Creative Computing Curriculum Guide (link opens PDF) published by the ScratchEd team at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The 32 page guide includes a nice template for planning a mini Scratch project, prompts for thinking about remixing projects, and guidelines for assessment.