Re: LOGO-L> specific ideas for classrm use

["Jim Muller" <Jim.Muller@MCI.Com>]

Marian ==>

Back in what now seems like the "Dark Ages," we were working with a
local private K-4 school introducing them to Logo and the computer.
Donna Bearden's children went there.

After observing the class for a short time, my son wrote "The Toddler's
Turtle," a single-key procedure based on he saw the kindergarten children
do.  For example, the kindergarten children played in a fenced playground.
However, they were not supposed to touch the fence, or they'd be sent
inside.

Another thing he observed was that when the children were asked to
physically turn, they automatically turned 90-degrees. The concept
of a diagonal was difficult to grasp until it was displayed a series
of left and right turns.

The Toddler's Turtle drew a fence around the perimeter of the screen.
Touch the fence and the turtle bounced back home.  Diagonals were drawn
as a series of left and right turns. Circles and shapes of different
sizes were also incorporated.

What amazed us...the observing adults...was how quickly the 5 -  6
year olds picked up the commands and were able to accurately visualize
what they wanted to do. We expected most of their time to be spent
in the immediate mode but many were actively using the editor with
little or no debugging of their procedures.

Over the years, there has been pros and cons about the use of single-key
procedures. I can only comment on our experience and that of those
who used "Logo Island Adventures," the kindergarten curriculum we developed
based on The Toddler's Turtle.

What's your feeling about single-key procedures?

Regards...Jim

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