By Mitchel Resnick

On January 2, our group at the MIT Media Lab introduced a new generation of Scratch, called Scratch 3.0. Much has changed since we introduced the first generation of our Scratch programming language and online community, back in 2007.

Back then, most K-12 educators saw computer programming as a narrow technical skill, too difficult for most elementary and middle-school students, and useful only for students planning to become professional programmers. Graphical programming languages were generally seen as toys or gimmicks, not appropriate for educational applications.

Fast forward to 2019, and the perceptions and activities around computer science education have changed dramatically. There is a growing recognition of the value of introducing coding to all students. Organizations like code.org and CS4All have been successful in promoting the integration of computer science into state curriculum standards.