Week 3: Coding and the Creative Arts Part 1

About

In the Coding and the Creative Arts sessions, you will learn about how the teaching of Coding can be linked to the outcomes in Creative Arts, including Visual Arts, Music and Drama.

This session’s activities have been adapted from Unit 2 (Animations) of the Creative Computing Curriculum guide. The “big idea” behind Unit 2 is the encouragement of “creative diversity” when teaching students Coding with Scratch. The activities that you will participate in today involve the creating of scripts for characters in Scratch to act out, composing and playing digital music, creating images and combining these creations together.

In the Part 1 session, we will focus on three activities from Unit 2 of the Creative Computing Curriculum guide: Performing Scripts, Build-a-Band and Orange Square, Purple Circle.

Metalanguage

algorithm, computational thinking, computational concept, coding, visual programming, sequences, events, parallelism, loops, reset, bitmap, vector

Materials

Session Outcomes

Stage 3 NSW Syllabus Outcomes

Science and Technology

Digital Technologies

Outcome	How the Outcome is addressed
ST2-2DP-T: selects and uses materials, tools and equipment to develop solutions for a need or opportunity.	In this session, you will create different programs that combine a variety of materials to address different opportunities and needs. For example, in the Build-a-Band activity you will combine different sounds, images and code in an interactive program.
ST3-3DP-T: defines problems, and designs, modifies and follows algorithms to develop solutions	In this session’s activities, you will design, modify and follow algorithms (steps of instructions for a computer to follow) when creating the different Scratch programs.

Creative Arts

Visual Arts

Outcome	How the Outcome is addressed
VAS3.2: Makes artworks for different audiences assembling materials in a variety of ways.	In the Orange Square, Purple Circle activity you will have the opportunity to create images using Scratch’s image editor.

Music

Outcome	How the Outcome is addressed
MUS3.1: Sings, plays and moves to a range of music, individually and in groups, demonstrating a knowledge of musical concepts.	In the Build-a-Band activity, you will create musical instruments that can be played in Scratch. You will also learn about how different musical concepts are able to be investigated with Scratch (for example: tempo and musical notes).
MUS3.2: Improvises, experiments, selects, combines and orders sound using musical concepts.	In the Build-a-Band activity, you will have the opportunity to improvise, experiment, select, combine and order sounds when using the Sound blocks and interacting with the instruments that you create in the program.
MUS3.3: Notates and discusses own work and the work of others.	During the session, you will have the opportunity to do a “gallery walk”, in which you can discuss and share the instruments you have created in the Build-a-Band activity with other session participants.
MUS3.4: Identifies the use of musical concepts and symbols in a range of musical styles.	During the Build-a-Band activity, you will have the opportunity to learn about how different musical concepts (such as tempo and representation of notes) can be investigated in Scratch.

Drama

Outcome	How the Outcome is addressed
DRAS3.3: Devises, acts and rehearses drama for performance to an audience.	In the Performing Scripts activity, you will be given the opportunity to perform steps, imitating the actions a character in Scratch would make.

AITSL Professional Teacher Standards

Standard	How the Standard is addressed
2.6.2: Use effective teaching strategies to integrate ICT into learning and teaching programs to make selected content relevant and meaningful.	In this session, you will learn about different teaching strategies for the integration of ICT (specifically Coding) with Creative Arts. The activities in the session, such as the Build-a-Band activity, are focused on the encouragement of personal expression and the creation of artefacts that are relevant to the learners.
3.4.2: Select and/or create and use a range of resources, including ICT, to engage students in their learning.	In this session, you will learn about different resources for teaching Coding, including ‘unplugged’ methods that can be used when you do not have access to a computer lab.
6.2.2: Participate in learning to update knowledge and practice, targeted to professional needs and school and/or system priorities.	In this session, you will learn about how Coding and Computational Thinking can be incorporated into different areas within the Creative Arts syllabus.
6.4.2: Undertake professional learning programs designed to address identified student learning needs.	In this session, you will be introduced to different teaching approaches for the teaching of Coding with Creative Arts. Some of these teaching approaches could be more suitable to students with particular learning needs (for example, teaching students Coding by having them act out instructions in the Performing Scripts activity).

ACARA General Capabilities

Literacy

Literacy Element	How this Element is addressed
Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating	In the session’s activities, you will be given the opportunity to create multimodal texts in Scratch. For example, in the Performing Scripts activity, you could create a script for characters in Scratch to act out, to tell a story.

Numeracy

Numeracy Element	How this Element is addressed
Estimating and calculating with whole numbers	In the session’s activities, you will calculate with whole numbers when creating programs in Scratch. For example, when creating music in the Build-a-Band activity, you will use the “play sound” blocks with the number of beats that the sound should be played for.
Recognising and using patterns and relationships	In the session’s activities, you will have the opportunity to recognise and use patterns when creating programs in Scratch. For example, when you choose a note to play in the “play note” block, you may recognise that there is a relationship between the note number and the pitch. The larger the note number, the higher pitch the note played is.
Using fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios and rates	In the session’s activities, you will have the opportunity to use fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios and rates. For example, in the Orange Square, Purple Circle activity, you could use blocks in Scratch that cause the shapes to shrink by a percentage.
Using spatial reasoning	In the session’s activity, you will use spatial reasoning when moving Sprites around the canvas in Scratch. For example, in the Performing Scripts activity, you may move one of the characters to different positions on the canvas.

Information and Communication Technology Capability

ICT Capability Element	How this Element is addressed
Applying social and ethical protocols and practices when using ICT	In this session, you will be given the opportunity to learn about the potential ethical issues that can be encountered when creating projects in Scratch. For example, in the Build-a-Band activity, a student may look for instrument sound files and may need to learn about copyright issues.
Creating with ICT	In this session, you will create and modify digital solutions (which will be Scratch projects).
Communicating with ICT	In this session, you will be introduced to the idea of a “gallery walk”, in which you share your created Scratch programs with other participants.
Managing and Operating ICT	In this session, you will learn how to use the image editor in Scratch and how this can be used to create bitmap and vector images.

Critical and Creative Thinking

Creative and Creative Thinking Capability Element	How this Element is addressed
Generating ideas, possibilities and actions	In this session, you will be encouraged to be creative in the activities and to explore a variety of ideas, possibilities and actions when creating your Scratch programs.
Reflecting on thinking and processes	In this session, you will be encouraged to reflect on how you completed the activity through the reflection prompts from the Creative Computing Curriculum guide. You will also reflect on how a Scratch program requires specific instructions to “reset”, which you will have to create with Scratch blocks.

Stage 3 ACARA Digital Technologies Content Descriptors

Content Descriptor	How the Descriptor is addressed
ACTDIP018: Design a user interface for a digital system	In the session’s activities you will create programs in Scratch that respond to user input. For example, in the Build-a-Band activity you will include different musical instruments that can be interacted with.
ACTDIP019: Design, modify and follow simple algorithms involving sequences of steps, branching, and iteration (repetition)	In this session’s activities, you will design, modify and follow algorithms (steps of instructions for a computer to follow).
ACTDIP020: Implement digital solutions as simple visual programs involving branching, iteration (repetition), and user input	In this session, you will implement a program in Scratch, a visual programming language, that includes loops (iteration), events and user input.