Scratch is a free drag and drop programming website from MIT that children can use to create interactive stories, games, and animations. Students can play for free, and they can create an account to save and share their creations with the Scratch user community. The site is targeted for children as young as eight, but younger students will likely need adult support for a while before they are ready to use independently. There are tutorials for adults, but those unfamiliar with computer programming will need to spend some extra time. The site feels overwhelming to use at first glance, and students with visual weaknesses may prefer to use one of the many programs that rely on Scratch but have a simpler interface. The programming interface contains puzzle-shaped blocks, each of which is a command such as move, turn, show, switch costume, play sound, that controls Sprites the cat. The programming blocks can be combined to create any story or game that students can imagine. Scratch is simple enough for students to pick up relatively quickly, yet sophisticated enough for experienced users to create complex projects. Scratch is an excellent website to interest committed students in computer programming and will grow with a student.

• Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
• Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
• Presents educational concepts accurately
• Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
• Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
• Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
• Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

• Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
• Subject matter and problems are relevant, interesting and authentic to students
• Visually appealing to children in the target age range
• Provides virtual rewards or incentives after meeting specified goals or objectives
• Provides a "break activity" between academic problem sets
• Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
• Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

• Has a free or trial version
• Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
• Provides an age-appropriate tutorial/first time users can work independently
• Student should be able to use independently after first use
• Has a multi-player option to foster in-person collaboration or cooperation
• Multiple users can save a profile
• Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
• Can play without sound and not distract others
• Students can save work between sessions
• Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
• Requires registration before using the first time
• Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
• Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
• Overall - Easy to use

• Organization
• Directions may be confusing for students using independently
• Requires remembering and completing a sequence of visual steps
• Students might need support with navigation
• Visual Discrimination
• Requires scanning in multiple places for words, objects or numbers
• Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
• Directions are visually difficult to read
• Students might need support with navigation