Using Makey-Makey Boards with Scratch

When I first bought a makey-makey board, I saw it as a toy. However after letting my class play with it, I soon realised it had more educational value than it was letting on, providing a great tool for engagement and motivation.

My first use came while trying to extend some high achievers in ICT, as it was then, when using scratch. The children were already making games with an olympic theme (think Daley Thompson’s Decathlon) and creating a controller with the board was a suitable extension. The problem was it was an extension that everyone wanted to access. By the end of the unit I had bought four more and all of the class had programmed a scratch game controlled by the board.

For the uninitiated, a makey-makey board is a circuit board that connects to a computer via a usb lead. Once connected certain computer inputs can be mimicked by connecting the device to electrical conductors and completing the circuit with an earth connection.

The unit that I now teach, which developed as a result of our tinkering, is described below.

To introduce the board to the children, we watched the makey-makey promotional video on youtube before I gave several boards out with the instruction to connect them to the computer. Once they were able to type something into a text editor, we moved on to playing games on Friv. The challenge here was for children to find games that could be controlled by the board and design a controller to play the game. The next activity combined elements of science and computing as children tested a range of materials to see if they were electrical conductors. The children created scratch programs that identified when an object completed an electrical circuit. By the end of these two sessions the children had a sound understanding of how the boards worked and how they could be used as an input. The next step was designing input based programs in scratch with the makey-makey board in mind.

The children's challenge was to design an activity, containing variables and conditional statements, that would be controlled by the makey-makey boards. Their programs ranged from maze games, to two-player racing games and keepie-uppie games. My favourite though was an on-screen piano that was controlled by a play-doh keyboard (an idea taken from the promotional video). This involved a group of three children working collaboratively to program a piano simulation.The lure of being able to play this piano definitely gave them renewed resilience and ensured that they stuck at this project until completion. After using these boards for a few years, I am still surprised by the ideas that children come up with and the perseverance they show to complete their program and long may this continue.

If you're looking to extend children with their use of scratch but are not yet ready to make the leap to text based programming, using a makey-makey board could be the challenge your class needs.

Resources to support the activities mentioned above can be downloaded from here.

Unplugged Variables

For the last few years, when teaching variables to key stage 2 pupils, I've mainly focused on scoring systems, timers, lives etc in Scratch games and introduced the concept as a value that is changed. This sat well with children's scientific understanding of the word and was readily accepted.

When ICT evolved into Computing, and variables were mentioned explicitly in the key stage 2 program of study, I thought my explanation of the concept needed to be more accurate. Below is the basic explanation that I give to children and some unplugged activities that can be used to introduce the concept.

Variables are places in computer programs that data can be stored. This data can be changed, recalled or used as required. The variable can only contain one value at a time. Data in variables can be represented as numbers, statements, dates etc. 

Where's the Variable?
As a class we looked at a range of images showing variables in software applications and in other forms like calendars and scoreboards. We identified the variable(s) and discussed when they would change - when a piggie is destroyed increase score variable by 500 (angry birds).

Comparing Variables

I used this activity to support programming a game to identify the winner when a points system is used. The scoreboard from a soccer game gives plenty of paired variables that can be compared. Using these values, we decided which team had scored the most goals, had the most corners, made the most saves. Then we discussed how to write an algorithm that would compare the values and state who the winner is (we found it useful to give pairs of variables names - saves 1 & saves 2). Example if saves 1 > saves 2 then say "Team 1 Winner"; if saves 1< saves 2 then say "Team 2 Winner". If saves 1 = saves 2 then say "Draw no winner"

Guess Who

In this activity we used the statements true/false to create facts about Guess Who characters.

First pupils had to identify the characters from the information given.

Glasses: True

Hat: False

Blonde Hair: True

Moustache: False

Once this understanding was secure, the children used the full set of characters to create variable statements to describe other characters. They then swapped statements and worked out who the statements where describing.

Dice Games

The first activity required children to follow an algorithm to create a scoring game using dice. After playing the game and discussing what certain parts of the algorithm meant, they were then challenged to design their own dice scoring game and write an algorithm for it.

Whenever I use an unplugged activity, I attempt to match the language used in it to the predetermined vocabulary and syntax of the programming language we are using and, with variables, the way the concept will be used. Some of these activities attempt to mimic Scratch, others text-based languages. 

CAS CPD Events

This term I will be running two CPD sessions on behalf of Computing at Schools.

The first course - Introducing Computer Science to the Primary Classroom (10/03/15)  - explains the computer science concepts and terminology of the new computing curriculum and explores a range of engaging unplugged activities (non IT) that can be used to introduce such concepts to the classroom. 

These activities include the algorithm or advice quiz; roboteach makes squash; human number sort; the selection dance; variable guess who.

The course was over subscribed when run last term. Below is some feedback from course attendees

• "The activities shared were very useful"
• "It was excellent"
• "[the course] made me realise I had a better understanding of the concepts than I thought"
• "great examples of unplugged resources"
• "loads of practical ideas to use in the classroom" 

The second course - Using Makey-Makey Boards with Scratch (19/03/15) -  explores how Makey-Makey boards (more info here) can be used in conjunction with Scratch to program activities and games that use external inputs. As this session will be very hands-on, the numbers are strictly limited to 15 to ensure that all attendees have access to resources.

The session includes ideas on use a makey-makey board to test electric conductors; to control maze based games, control two player race games; play an onscreen instruments. 

Both courses will be run as twilight sessions from 4pm to 6pm at St Paul's Primary School in Withington (M20 4PG)  and the charge per attendee is £27.15. If you would like to book a place on either course please use the links below. Course attendees will be receive copies of resources used in the training sessions

Introducing Computer Science to the Primary Classroom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/introducing-computer-science-to-the-primary-classroom-registration-15326295362

Using Makey-Makey Boards with Scratch - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/using-makey-makey-boards-with-scratch-registration-15350938069

In addition to these events, Sally Jordan will be hosting the termly South Manchester Primary CAS Hub meeting and CPD sessions on Scratch and Kodu - details below.

Next CAS Primary Hub is at Acacias Primary School on March 5^th

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cas-burnage-primary-hub-meeting-tickets-15392570593

Courses:

Introducing Scratch to Primary Teachers KS1 & KS2 on 26/03/2015 16:00 – 17:30

Using Scratch to deliver the Computing Curriculum in Primary Schools.

Exciting and engaging ideas for you and your class with practical activities to deliver straight away.

There will be an opportunity to gain practical experience using Scratch and to learn about the wide variety of plans and resources available.

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/introducing-scratch-to-primary-teachers-ks1-ks2-registration-15416882310

Introduction to Kodu for Primary Teachers on 30/04/2015 16:00 – 17:30 at Acacias Primary School, Burnage.

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/introduction-to-kodu-for-primary-teachers-registration-15417046802

Sally Jordan - Sally is Computing Co-ordinator at Acacias Primary School, and was appointed as a Primary Master Teacher (Level 2) in July 2014. She is currently teaching Computing across the school and Year 6 intervention groups.

Venue for both training courses is Acacias Primary School, Alexandra Drive, Burnage M19 2WW

For further information: sally.jordan@computingatschool.org.uk