Re: LOGO-L> Visual Arts URL

[rimpey@netspace.net.au (Richard Impey)]

Hi Bill

I forgot to cc post this to the LOGO news group.

You seem to get your students to do some pretty complicated tessellating!!
I would love to see some of their work. (See invitation at the bottom of
this message). I was interested to know what year level(s) do you teach?
Are you a class room teacher or a specialist?

One of my roles is to promte the use of Learning Technologies
(computers)across the curriculum. I have to try and complement and
reinforce what the classroom teachers are teaching their students. I
thought that it was a pretty good project that was linking Art, Info tech,
and mathematics as well as English communication and publishing through
e-mail and web pages etc. :-(

For this project using the LOGO language only to create the tessellations
is not my only or major consideration.
Using the other features of MicroWorlds are major considerations. So I have
a different emphasis to what you seem to have in mind.
Perhaps I'll call the project Creating Geometric Designs Using MicroWorlds.
(Some of which may be tessellations!!!)
What is wrong with the children drawing their more complicated tessellating
shapes pixel by pixel in the shape editor? Then repeatedly stamp the shape
on the screen?

If some of the more advanced students are able to handle creating the
tessellations using programming I will be encouraging it. If during their
experimentations they discover that the program has certain limitations
that is good. *I thought that learning through exploration and
experimentation was a major point of using LOGO in education.

As an extension activity the students might want to try another software
package such as ClarisWorks paint or decide that they would prefer to work
with pencil and paper - thats fine. Perhaps they might like to create the
tessellation by hand, scan it into the computer and then experiment with
adding colors and patterns. That's OK too.

Other projects we have done have had a much heavier emphasis on the LOGO
language.
The children have created their own "Choose Your Own Adventures" and
designed and made their own Tamagotchi's. The latter was really challenging
programming wise.

Yes, Escher may well have used a more sophisticated graphics package other
than MicroWorlds to create some of his Graphic designs
eg Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop
but I am teaching Primary children who have had limited exposure to
computers and creative software. Also I can't afford to put those other
programs onto the computers nor do I think that they are appropriate for
most of the children that I teach given the amount of contact time (1 hour
per week) and an already over loaded curriculum.
As I said before
We use MicroWorlds as our Multimedia Presentation Tool.
Not jsut to teach LOGO -that is an added benifit.
As I see it I'm required to teach the children to use the computers as
tools for a variety of purposes. I don't consider that I have the time to
spend it exclusively on the LOGO language.

You said...
On the computer you are constrained to working with either
>straight lines or simple shapes (eg. square), curves and translations (not
>rotations). Although some great tessellations can be done in this way (eg.
>Esher's Pegasus) it seems to me pointless to limit the variety by choosing the
>computer medium.

You should experiment with a basic graphic package such as ClarisWorks Draw
and Paint. You can rotate drawings, flip on the horizontal or vertical
axis, distort in fact do all sorts of wonderful things.
If you are still sceptical about computer software and limitations try
Photoshop.

It's probably going to be like "Who's Papert?"
....but what the heck!
Who's Clayson?

You said...

"I argue that we learn more about tessellations without using the computer!"

I agree! But what about all the other benefits and learning that this
project will engender?

Why don't you scan some of your children's work and put it up as part of
the Virtual Art Gallery. Get some of the brighter children to create an
instruction page on how to create the more complicated tessellations.
Stimulate the other childen from around the world who will be part of this
project to communicate and learn from each other.


Cheers Richard


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                        Richard Impey
                        Information Technology Specialist
                        Phone 0011 61 3 9509 6872
                        Caulfield North Primary School
                        186 Balaclava Road
                        Caulfield North 3161
                        Melbourne, Victoria, Australia


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