25 August 2016

A new group of teachers willing to conduct elective courses in Scratch in their schools in the 2016/2017 academic year was trained in the Hi-Tech Park. The training was held on August 25 within the educational project Programming is the New Literacy.

Teachers from different regions of Belarus, including Brest, Gomel, Rogachev, Mstislavl, Glubokoe, Dokshitsy, and Krupki, completed the training. They exchanged experience of teaching Scratch, improved their teamwork skills to be used during classes, and discussed online cooperation within the project.

”I know Scratch for a while, it is indeed a unique environment. I teach Scratch at school for over 3 years. All the students like Scratch, and that is very important. The training enabled me to communicate with my colleagues and share experience, and now I know that there are like-minded people. While working on projects in a team, I could look at the process of teaching Scratch from a different angle, and now I understand what to change in my work,“ comments Natalia Kursova, a teacher at Rogachev Secondary School No.3.

Irina Gorbatsevich, a teacher at Brest Gymnasium No.1, also shared her impressions after the training: ”I became interested in Scratch many years ago, I watched video tutorials and studied books about Scratch in English but it was hard as there was no one to help. I am really happy that the project Programming is the New Literacy provides for creating an online community allowing teachers to communicate, discuss different issues, and learn from each other.“

The training was conducted according to the educational program developed by the Educational Center of the Hi-Tech Park.