Events in Scratch

Events in Scratch are represented by the yellow codes including: when flag clicked, when sprite clicked, when key pressed and broadcast. Broadcasting is the most advanced event in Scratch and helps with interactions between sprites like pacing their conversations or changing levels.

Learning Objectives

• Practice using Broadcast Events blocks in Scratch

• Understand that the sequence of events is important

Introduce students to the activity

• Tell students that they are going to recreate what they did in the unplugged activity in Scratch.

• Students will pick 4 sprites and 1 background for a scene in Scratch. 

• They will then try to recreate the unplugged activity by having 3 characters broadcast messages that cause the 4th character to do specific actions. 

• You may need to make the instructions in from the CS unplugged activity visible to the whole classroom.

Challenge Activities

If a student finishes early, check their work and if they are ready, give them one of these challenges:

• Help a classmate who is stuck on a bug. Helpers don’t touch other people’s devices, but instead offer suggestions for how they might go about debugging.

• Use the broadcast event to trigger a background change

• Use broadcast event to create a new level, switching out sprites that show up between level 1 and level 2

CS Integration Projects

One of the most exciting things about learning a CS concept like events in a tool like Scratch is the possibility for students to use their newfound skill to share their learning in another subject. The possibilities are endless, but here are a few CS integration projects your students will be ready to do after this lesson:

• Create a soundscape (Music)

• Explore Angles (Math)

• Surprise! Project in Scratch (Language Arts, World Languages)

• Time Travel Project in Scratch (History, Social Studies)