LOGO-L> Re: ToonTalk versus MicroWorlds

["Ken Kahn" <KenKahn@ToonTalk.com>]

From: Bill Kerr <kerrb@senet.com.au>

> ToonTalk makes a new and interesting
>contribution to visual programming. But if I'm teaching a class of students
>and half of them learn best visually and half of them learn best by text
>programming (hypothetically) then I'm better off choosing MicroWorlds if I
>want to cater for both, because ToonTalk doesn't cater for the text based
>learners at all. Certainly, I'd see the need for further research into kids
>learning styles using ToonTalk and MicroWorlds but the point I'm making is
>that ToonTalk doesn't cater for diverse learning styles but only one
>learning style (visual) whereas MicroWorlds at least has some new features
>like textboxes whose contents can be run as a program which cater for
visual
>learners to some degree (though not to the same extent as ToonTalk).
>

This is the best argument against ToonTalk in classrooms that I've heard. Of
course, in the ideal world we can accomodate both visual and textual (or is
it symbolic or formal or linguistic) thinkers by offering both ToonTalk and
Logo and giving students the chance to try both and choose. And in the home,
there isn't the need to compromise to get the largest coverage.

I believe there is something to the notion that some learners are better at
"visual thinking" and some are better at "non-visual thinking". I've read
some psychology books on the topic, but I am still fuzzy on what exactly are
the issues here. Maybe it is not text versus imagery. Maybe the underlying
issue is that ToonTalk enables one to think more concretely about
computation while some students thrive with more abstract formal systems. If
this issue is to influence school policies then it would be worth having
some data. Is the distrubution 50/50? Are younger children more visual? How
many students are equally competent with both styles? Can a non-visual
thinker become a better visual thinker with experience? If a programming
language is a tool to think with, then maybe ToonTalk can help those
non-visual thinkers become better visual thinkers. These are great research
topics - anyone out there looking for a thesis topic?

A different spin on Bill's comments is that ToonTalk is an excellent
programming and learning tool for half the population. And it is the half
that has few programming tools at all, while the other half has literally
thousands of languages and tools to choose from.

Best,

-ken kahn


---------------------------------------------------------------
Please post messages to the Logo forum to logo-l@gsn.org.  Mail
questions about the list administration to logofdn@gsn.org.  To
unsubscribe send    unsubscribe logo-l    to majordomo@gsn.org.