Working from Scratch: The Pedagogic Value of Undergraduate Devising
In 2013 MIT unveiled a software program that allows kids to create interactive stories, games, animation, and music by assembling blocks of code online, much like creating a Lego construction (Choi) This program, called Scratch, is used in classrooms and online communities to encourage logical and creative development, as well as learning to work collaboratively. Problem solving is at the heart of Scratch: if something does not work, kids can go back, take the blocks of code apart and try again, learning how to fix a problem rather than throwing away what they have done and starting over. The name Scratch alludes to the remix of sounds created by DJs "scratching" vinyl records to make "new" sounds (Schorow) What Scratch suggests, therefore, is the act of invention, such as exploring the interplay between music and the materiality of noise to create something new (Carter 2007, 15)