Teaching and learning through creating games in ScratchJr: Who needs variables anyway!

This paper presents an idea for teaching and learning through creating games in ScratchJr, which is an extension of the existing curriculum available for ScratchJr. It discusses our experience of running half-day camps with K-2nd graders using ScratchJr and how essential skills such as designing and planning, sequencing, problem solving, thinking about thinking (metacognition), and sharing can be developed through creating games in ScratchJr. Since ScratchJr does not have variables but rather events and messaging, we used a sprite (an object that performs actions) moving towards a goal to represent positive integers and away from that goal to represent negative integers. It is the same concept as using a number line. The sprite is at zero at the start of the game, and as the game progresses, the sprite moves either to the left or right goal triggering the winning or losing page. This way of scoring tracking is highly visual, and younger students can understand and incorporate it into their games even without understanding addition, subtraction, or negative integers properly. With this idea of tracking progress, we can create a variety of games that are very entertaining to play while still being understandable to younger students who will be able to code on their own.