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Summary

In this lesson, students will be introduced to this year’s STEM VGC theme and the coding platform, Scratch. Students will have an opportunity to explore Scratch and its basic functionalities through playing Scratch games. Students will investigate various game types and brainstorm suitable ideas for their potential video game.

Curriculum codes

Digital Technologies: AC9TDI4P03 AC9TDI6P04

Media Arts: AC9AMA4C01 AC9AMA6C01

General capabilities

Critical and Creative Thinking: Generating

Literacy: Speaking and Listening

a young boy sitting and playing with handheld gaming device

Learning intention

In this lesson, you will discuss the STEM VGC theme and brainstorm game ideas. You will learn about different game types in Scratch and choose a type of game for your team to develop.

Prerequisites

It is recommended that lesson 1 is completed prior to commencing this lesson.

What you need

Before the lesson

  • Create a free account in Scratch.
  • Review Scratch Wiki to learn more about the types of games that can be created in Scratch.
  • Select one or two game types for teams to choose from. This approach will allow you to create a community of experts in your classroom where students can support each other in their learning. We recommend Maze and Cat and Mouse games if you are new to Scratch. If your students are familiar with building games, you can offer more game types for exploration.
  • Once you have selected the type(s) of games your teams will develop, choose one or two example games that you will use through the unit. If you are using two game types, choose one example game for each type of game. Here is an example Maze game. Here is an example Cat and Mouse game.

    Teacher tip: To examine the coding blocks of an example project, find and click the ‘See Inside’ button on the right-hand side of the screen. This will allow students to see the coding that is occurring whilst they are playing the game.

  • Set up your class devices with the example games ready for teams to play. Load half of the devices with one example game type and the other half with the other example game type. To manage student movement, set the games up on different sides of the room.
  • Consider if you will allocate students to teams or if they will choose their own.

Activities

Introduction (15 mins)

  1. Organise the students into their teams (either prepared by the teacher or allow students to choose).
  2. As a whole class, explore this year's STEM VGC theme by reading through the STEM VGC theme sheet and starting preliminary discussions with the teams about their initial ideas.
  3. Ask teams to suggest game ideas based on the theme and record some of these ideas on an anchor chart. Do not spend too long on this.
  4. Tell teams that they will be creating their game in Scratch. Ask if anyone has used Scratch before. Explain that Scratch uses blocks of code to build a game. The blocks are like pieces of instructions that fit together to make things happen in a game.
  5. Explain to teams that they will get to choose from two types of games. Tell them the names of each game type (for example, Maze and Cat and Mouse). Ask the teams to predict how these game types might work based on their name.

Main Activity (30 mins)

  1. Tell teams that they will have 10 to 15 minutes to play an example game of each game type.

    Teacher tip: Depending on the number of devices, divide the time up fairly between teams and display a timer to indicate when it is time to change.

  2. Tell the teams to find a device and begin playing the game. Give an alert when there is 5-minutes remaining on the timer that the teams will swap games soon.
  3. Instruct teams to click on located at the top right of the project page to explore its coding while playing the game.
  4. Ask teams to observe the code showcased alongside the game while they wait for their turn to play. This helps them familiarise themselves with the coding style specific to that type of game.
  5. Tell teams to swap to a device with a different example game when the timer goes off. Restart the timer and give an alert when there is 5-minutes remaining on the timer.

Reflection/Sharing tasks (10–15 mins)

  1. Ask teams to briefly share what they have discovered.
  2. Did the games run as you had predicted?
  3. What are the pros and cons of each game type?
  4. How are the game types suited to the theme?
  5. Revisit the class game ideas anchor chart and add one or two new suggestions if the teams have any. Add game type labels.
  6. In preparation for the next lesson, ask teams to think about potential character designs and narratives.