ScratchJr marks 10th anniversary
ScratchJr, a programming app for kids co-developed by the Developmental Technologies Research Group—now housed at BC's Lynch School of Education and Human Development—will celebrate its 10th anniversary on September 16.
Available in 18 languages and with over 50 million users worldwide, ScratchJr offers children ages 5-7 with the opportunity to learn the powerful ideas of computer science and literacy through programming and customizing their own animations, stories, and games. Youngsters can create numerous types of personally meaningful projects using a variety of programming blocks that connect like puzzle pieces.
It's now available as a free app for iOs, Android, and Chromebook. CommonSense Media awarded ScratchJr a 4-star rating, and characterizes it as “offering a rich and challenging environment for very young programmers."
The app is inspired by the Scratch visual programing language, which is aimed primarily at youth ages 8-16 as an educational tool that requires reading skills. The ScratchJr creators saw a need for a more simplified way to learn programming at a younger age.
Marina Umaschi Bers (Caitlin Cunningham)
The project, launched by Marina Umaschi Bers in 2001 at Tufts University’s Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development—in partnership with Lifelong Kindergarten and the Playful Invention Company—was originally awarded a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
In 2022, Bers, now BC's Augustus Long Professor of Education, and DevTech moved to the Lynch School, where DevTech focuses on the design and use of creative technologies that promote young children’s learning about computational thinking, coding, creating, and engineering in a playful, developmentally appropriate way. Supported by the Scratch Foundation, DevTech has developed numerous learning and teaching resources, has researched learning outcomes with ScratchJr and its curricula, and has networked with the global community to support its use.
As an example, Bers points to the free Coding as Another Language (CAL) curriculum for pre-K to second grade students that incorporates ScratchJr and KIBO—a research-based, hands-on coding robot—to expose children to developmentally appropriate ideas of computer science as well as to principles of literacy while at school, in after-school programs, and into the home.
According to Bers, she and her DevTech Research Group will share a decade’s worth of research, design, and development that created, enhanced, and expanded the reach of ScratchJr, including international partnerships, neuroscience studies, new prototypes, and curricular resources.
“We hope many people will join the wonderful DevTech team and me, as well as some of our international partners, to learn more about the work we’ve been doing with ScratchJr, and all of the new and exciting future opportunities,” she said.
Register for the two-hour (4:00-6:00 p.m.) virtual anniversary celebration on September 16, here . Additionally, DevTech will host an in-person event on March 16, 2025; to learn more, register at DevTech’s mailing list.