Scratchers should recognize the interface and concepts of Google’s app inventor for Android. Based on the project description, the app inventor turns programming on its head and gives non-programmers a vehicle to create applications through graphical blocks. That’s powerful stuff.

The app inventor project recognizes several earlier projects for providing research and inspiration. It mentions an ongoing collaboration with the Scratch Team, which Mitch Resnick confirms in a Scratch Ed thread.

From the app inventor page:

The educational perspective that motivates App Inventor holds that programming can be a vehicle for engaging powerful ideas through active learning. As such, it is part of an ongoing movement in computers and education that began with the work of Seymour Papert and the MIT Logo Group in the 1960s.

I’ll be watching this project closely and will be shopping for an Android phone. It seems like a logical jump from the playful environment of Scratch.