Introduction



www.unspash.com Martha Dominguez de Gouveia

Welcome to Scratch basic, here you will begin your journey into coding. You will have the opportunity to apply your own lived personal experiences and existing skills to coding. While you will learn new skills it will also enhance your existing soft skills.

Scratch is a high-level block-based visual programming language and website aimed as a first step into programming. Users on the site, called Scratchers, can create projects on the website using a block-like interface.

Scratch takes its name from a technique used by disk jockeys called "scratching", where vinyl records are clipped together and manipulated on a turntable to produce different sound effects and music. Like scratching, the website lets users mix together different media (including graphics, sound, and other programs) in creative ways by creating and 'remixing' projects, like video games, animations, and simulations.

How does Scratch work?

In Scratch, the way you interact with your program is through sprites

Sprites are objects within your program that you can interact with – you can change the way they act using scripts

In the template you have been given, many of the sprites have already been given basic scripts, such as the buttons

Sprites can be found in the sprite window!

 In the links section you will find links to information regarding Scratch - Introduction to Scratch and About Scratch, both of which will help you on this and the next two quest activities, by providing background and context regarding this Coding language. 

Also you will find it useful to read the document titled A career for you in the NHS that will highlight the roles availble and the growing need for individuals with coding ability.

Task



www.pexels.com Mart Productions

In this example we will code a project, which replicates a simple Hospital Management System, used by Doctors and Nurses.
This project will help you develop an understanding how coding is used in Hospitals. As part of the activity participants will design a software in which the nurse/hospital staff will be able to;

  1. Admit a patient,
  2. See the occupied and vacant bed lists,
  3. Add expenses, show all expenses,
  4. Generate a bill for the patient,
  5. Discharge the patient.

Process

In order to complete this task, you are required to watch the videos in the resources section and also follow the instructions in the document titled 'Hospital Management' in the resources section. The instructions start from slide 5.

Also view the video 'Introduction to Scratch Programming' This will add to you journey.

And there is a second video 'How Hospital Management System works?' that will give you a quick, fun and easy introduction to Hospital Management System (HMS) one of the ways that Coding is used in hospitals, which can offer comprehensive solutions to various segments of Healthcare Industry as well as Nurses, Patients, Doctors, Pharmacy, Hospital Management and Services. Here again due to the public facing nature of a hospital you need to have a strong base of soft and inter-personal skills, which will strengthen the Coding aspect of your career.

 

Conclusion

A brief summary of what we have covered:

The IF THEN ELSE block is a control block that checks whether something is True or False.

If the condition is true, the code held inside the first space (labeled space C1) will activate.

Lists - ways to store more than one item of data in the same place.

Well done you are now ready to move to the intermediate level!

Through this level and preceding levels you will enhance your soft skills and learn a variety of technical skills. Soft skills: transferable skills that are used in any job (and life in general). They’re harder to measure but valuable for every job. Technical skills: specific skills you need to complete your job. Easy to see if someone has them or doesn’t. They are the baseline. They are the requirement to do your role. remeber your natural soft skills are as important as the coding you are learning. Please visit the link 'Top 7 Soft Skills For Developers & How To Learn Them' in the links section in the resources section to learn more. It is important that you recognise and enhance your own personal skills and experiences as much as developing your Coding ability.

 

Learning Objectives

  • Learning to code is like learning how to read and write in a different medium – it enables you with creative and expressive power
  • Code helps learners to become creators of digital artifacts rather than simply being consumers
  • It can enhance problem-solving skills.
  • Coding can improve career prospects
  • Gain confidence regarding coding
  • Enhance communication skills
  • Enhanced abstract thinking
  • Gaining organisational skills
  • Confidence beyond usual comfort zone and skill set
  • Understanding connection between their life and coding
  • Begin journey of curiosity