The IT Department at Whitby has begun a pilot initiative to introduce programming concepts to LE Students. With visits to each of the 4 LE classrooms over the course of the last three weeks, the students used new software for the iPad called ScratchJr to develop stories. Instead of telling the students that they were learning “programming,” the idea was to approach the exercises as interactive storytelling.
ScratchJr is an introductory programming language developed by the MIT Media Lab that "enables young children to create interactive stories and games" by snapping together graphical programming blocks.
This powerful introduction to a different way of visualized thinking is easily accessible, and by design, a great tool that can be explored from home.