Does any one have ideas for topics to have students create projects using the if-then and the if-then-else blocks. little projects that may take 1 to 3 class periods.

Thanks

Cougarteacher

You could do a simple thing like having a sprite with two costumes and saying when clicked next costume. Then do if costume # = 1 then
Say 1
Else
Say 2

Very simple.

I had luck matchingg simple Scratch apps in with real world fun. For example, you could split the class into two groups for a trivia contest and use a scratch app as the game show buzzer, to see which student pressed the answer button first.

We used Lego Wedo kits and Pico Crickets (Scratch designed to interface with Wedo) and made a drag racing track for lego cars complete with a red green yellow start light. A door handle alarm that used paperclips to set of an alarm when someone came in the classroom. Scratch powered sculptures and windmills. All kinds of stuff.

Wedo and Pico was handy but not necessary. You could have students take poles or elect a pretend school president and use Scratch to keep up with the results. Throw in a fake scandal with “pole rigging” in one 'hacked“ pole tally app and now things just got even more interesting. Use cloud data so students can check the results live as they come in daily.

My point is that yes, teaching Scratch to a bunch of kids for a small amount of time can feel like a daunting task. Reducing the lesson to the heart of programing, the If statement, is a great idea. You could develop simple logic projects, like a sprite that must move across a grid with some tiles blocked. Draw the grid out on the ground and have students ”write" out their own simple If program on a sheet of paper, then follow it on the real world grid and try to get across before the computer opponent.

Here is an assignment I use for simple apple collection game. The requirements are required for a passing grade. If they include some of the features they can improve their grade. The conditional is used to determine if the player is touching the apple.

Requirements
Use a conditional (If …, then …)
Move character with arrow keys
Goal sprite (apple?) jumps away when touched
Keeps score
Shows a win screen when enough points are won

Features
Bad guy that reduces score
Bad guy moves
Bad guy chases player
Goal runs away from player
Health bar
Game Over screen
Play Again? button
Adjustable speeds for all characters
Easy Medium Difficult settings
Introduction with controls explained