Assessment Task 2: Digital Media Response

Authors: Darren Burn, Rhiannon Veal and Jayne Mooney

Link to resource - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/115505806/?fromexplore=true

Link to our Website - http://happy-jar.weebly.com/

Our idea for this topic was to focus on mental health, in response to the unit question of
How do I thrive in a digital world?. We are all special education majors and believe that
good mental health is important with the students of today and, by aiming this digital media
at a Grade 5/6 level, we believe this is the best approach. Prior to commencing the response,
we wanted to make a Scratch animation that could use the Makey Makey device (we hadnt
animated or used Makey Makey prior to this unit).

Once brainstorming ideas, our ideas thinned around how to use the Makey Makey device.
However, we knew we wanted to focus on the students deciding what made them feel
different emotions so they could recognise this and self-regulate.

When beginning to use Scratch, as a group we followed the user help guide to see how the
program worked. We began by looking in the explore section and seeing what was similar to
what we were looking for, rather than reinventing the wheel. There was a makeup selection
game that we found, where you had to pick the better makeup for the girl in the game.
Unfortunately, this had a right and wrong answer, so we changed it so that you could choose
either answer and still feel positive about what you selected. We used the see inside tool to
do this, and had to go into script to change the timing of the animation. Some of the answers
were originally very brief and fast, so we were able to alter what she said and what the timing
of it was. After that we went through and changed the sprites from different toners to sprites
that were related to our topic (such as social media). This sounds simple, but proved difficult
when rearranging positions and sizes of sprites appropriately.

After some time on arrangement and size of sprites, we wanted to change the backgrounds so
that it was more appropriate to the age of the students. We went into backdrops and added:

A bedroom scene.

An outdoor basketball court to demonstrate the schoolyard

Water and rocks to demonstrate relaxation.

Various light coloured backdrops to focus attention on the foreground.

Sadly, this is when we hit our major hurdle. Up until this point we had completely
forgotten the Makey Makey and as a result we attempted to alter the actions of the game.
Originally it was that we had to click the mouse on the answer, so we changed it so that
we could press the right or left arrow key (therefore able to potentially use Makey
Makey). We soon found out that the potential the Makey Makey had wasnt appropriate
with this game because we had made the right and left keys the trigger for four different
sprites, meaning that if I pressed the right arrow key at the beginning of the game then all
sprites with that trigger would appear. This became a large timing issue, and took the
better part of an afternoon to solve.

Following the solving of the issue, we decided to focus just on Scratch and use that as our
response. We changed to character to a penguin not gender specific and can be altered
according to year level.

This digital media response is included in the engage section of the 5E model, as seen below

ENGAGE Lesson:
Creating a Scratch animation.
Curriculum standards:

Students develop possible solutions in response to design briefs (Design, Creativity and
Technology).

Students develop their skills in organising ideas and information logically and clearly to suit
their purpose (Communication).

Use comprehension strategies to analyse information, integrating and linking ideas from digital
sources (English).

Students consider what it means to be socially and emotionally healthy (Health).

Students compare their beliefs and values with others, and consider how these influence
feelings. They consider how it feels to be excluded from a group. They explore the impact of
bullying on peoples sense of self-worth and are assisted to identify different types of bullying
(Interpersonal Development).

They practise transferring their knowledge to new contexts (Thinking Processes). (Victorian
Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2015)
Design, modify and follow simple algorithms involving sequences of steps, branching, and
iteration (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2015).

Introduction:
Students to be at desks with access to their laptops/iPads.
Teacher explains:
Today we will be looking at what different situations make us feel. I have created this example of what
Scratch can do to get you thinking about how you feel and also so you can see what you could create.
Teacher shares link to the created Scratch animation
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/115505806/?fromexplore=tr
ue

Students go to animation and engage in activity.

(5 MINUTES)
Body:
Activity 1: Learning to use Scratch.
Teacher to open https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/115578634/#editor which has the sidebar titled
Getting Started with Scratch and then the zoom tool on their computer to make the Getting
Started with Scratch sidebar a focus.
Teachers asks students (and demonstrates if required) to open a new Scratch project.
Students follow instructions of the sidebar by reading instructions off the projector screen (where
teacher has Getting Started with Scratch operating)
(20 MINUTES)
Using Apple AirPlay, share animations on the screen.
(5 MINUTES)
Web links: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/115578634/#editor
Activity 2: Creating a Scratch.
Teacher says:
Now that we know how to use scratch to make an animation, I would like you to make a scratch
animation about what makes you happy. It can be objects, people, anything that makes you happy.
There are rules about what I would like you to do and Ill write them on the board.
Teacher writes on board
1- 5 different happy ideas (objects, family etc)
2- Animation must change backgrounds.
3- At least one Sprite needs to be doing a happy dance
Students create their animation
(35 MINUTES)

Web links:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/115578634/#editor
Extension activity:
For fast finishers, include situations or places make them happy. For example, the beach.
Conclusion:
Students to share (if comfortable) using Apple AirPlay.

A step by step guide to using Sketch is included in Appendices A.

SWOT Analysis:

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

Flexible.

More of a primary school resource.

Adaptable.

The background changes slightly early

Easy to read.

at the start so that could draw the

Engaging to young audiences

audiences eye.

Not too many choices (only 2)

OPPORTUNITIES
Engage section of 5E model.
Demonstrates what Scratch can do at a
basic level.

THREATS
Students could play games on Scratch
home page.

References (lesson plan):

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2015). Content for Year 5 Learning area content descriptions. Retrieved from
http://www.acara.edu.au/_resources/Content_for_Year_5__Learning_area_content_descriptions.pdf
Lifelong Kindergarten Group. (2016). About Scratch. Retrieved from
https://scratch.mit.edu/about
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2015). Level Five Learning Standards.
Retrieved from
ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Level5?layout=1&d=ta&d=co&d=dct&d=E&d=hpe&d=ict&
d=id&d=M&d=pl&d =tp

Appendices B: How to use

Scratch.