How MIT and Cartoon Network are teaming up to get kids into coding
“We see learning to code more like learning to write.’’
You might not ever think of Cartoon Network and MIT as business partners, but to Lisa O’Brien and Mitch Resnick of the MIT Media Lab, it was a perfect pairing.
Within the Media Lab—a research laboratory for projects that converge technology, multimedia, sciences, art, and design—is Scratch, an online coding community. It’s geared toward kids ages 8 to 16 and provides tutorials and tools for programming their own interactive games, stories, and animations.
Hour of Code, a nonprofit initiative to teach everyone, every age, to code kicks off Monday around the globe. In participation of the campaign, MIT and Cartoon Network have collaborated to provide Scratch users—there are more than 8 million registered—and computer teachers with activities centered around characters from the network’s show We Bare Bears.
“Using the characters [children] know and love from Cartoon Network to create their own games and not just watch is a perfect marriage,’’ said Mitch Resnick, director of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT Media Lab. “We often say, with Scratch, that we want to reach the kids who never imagine themselves being interested in programming. When they see that they can take their favorite characters and make them come to life on the screen, they’re really motivated.’’
We Bare Bears, a TV program about three brother bears, is the number one animated show among children ages 6 to 11, according to Jill King, senior vice president at Cartoon Network. On the Scratch website, users can “remix’’ the We Bare Bears starter projects, such as a hide and seek game or an animated story. Remixing means the user makes their own coding modifications.
“One of the things we’re eager to talk about is this notion of kids seeing themselves as creators of technology,’’ O’Brien said. “Scratch is designed to be tinker-able. You’re testing and trying something, and we want to develop that in kids where they feel comfortable.’’
Through these coding games, Resnick said they want kids to gain a few key skills: how to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.
“We see learning to code more like learning to write,’’ Resnick said. “We don’t say in school to only teach writing to people who will grow up to go into that profession. It helps you organize your ideas and express yourself, it’s helpful for everyone. We view coding in the same way.’’
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