January 1990 Volume 8 Number 5
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Journal of the ISTE Special Interest Group for Logo-Using Educators January 1990 Volume 8 Number 5 CONNECTIONS International Society for Technology in Education Finally, a long distance relationship that won't break your heart. ISTE offers eight Independent Study courses that get to the heart of learning. Each course thoroughly covers the title material and is designed to provide staff develop ment and leadership training. You correspond directly with the course's instructor by mail, and can receive graduate credit through the Oregon State System of Higher Education. Classes offered this year are: Register for classes independently or with • Introduction to Logo for· Educators a group. Districts enrolling six or more (available for LogoWriter or Logo PLUS) teachers receive a fee reduction for each person enrolled. • Fundamentals of Computers in Education Courses range from $222 to $336 for 3-4 • Long Range Planning for Computers in quarter-hours of graduate credit. You have Schools one year to complete your course. • Computers in Mathematics Education Start a great long distance relationship today • Computers and Problem Solving with an ISTE Independent Study Course. • Introduction to AppleWorks for Educators Request an Independent Study course brochure. Write or call: • Computers in Composition ISTE, Unviersity of Oregon, • Effective Inservice for Instructional Use of 1787 Agate St. , Eugene, OR 97403-9905 Computers in Education ph. 503/ 686-4414 " LOGO "t t"EXCHANGE Volume 8 Number 5 Journal of the ISTE Special Interest Group for Logo-Using Educators January 1990 Contents From the Editor -Connections.•• and then what? Sharon Yoder 2 Monthly Musings -Connections: The Process of Procedures TomLough 3 Logo Ideas -There are Connections.. .and then there are connections. Eadie Adamson 4 Introducing Lego-Logo to Elementary Students Kwok-Wing Lai 6 Beginner's Corner -Back to the Future-The New Gereration of Floor Turtles! Dorothy Fitch 9 LogoLinX -Logo Graphics by (Electronic) Mail Judi Harris 12 Making Projects Personal: Reflections on a LEGO-Logo Workshop Mitchel Resnick 15 Ireland-Logoland-The 1989 International Computer Problem Solving Contest: Senior Logo Results Donald T. Piele 20 Publisher.llitematiPnill • .•..•.•.•.• ·.••·• S<>cietY •. ······•>•······•••<·•·· f9t T!:Chil<il<)gy ... ··•·•················. m. EduC3ti.Ori>····. •..... •.·•··• •· ·.)·•·······. •· · · Logo & Company -Sight and Sound: The Next Decade Part TI-Visons of the 90's Advertising··spare in ·eaCh is~ue.~l.cgoExdMng~· is·limi~:··· •· Glen L. Bull, Gina L. Bull, and Chris Appert 24 Please contact theAdvert(sjJig M;gr,for•vallabilityaiid lleta.ilS· •.. .Logo Exchange is thejouiiilll <>f~~.Jo~~ ~tYf~J- •••.. Logo: Search and Research -To err is human ... to debug, Tecrnology in Edueatioo $~c;W JrueTeSt QrQ\ip for Log~~ •·.·. divine using Educators. (SlCHAg¢ ), published mOiltNY. ,septem¥' .·· Douglas H. Clements 30 through. May by ISTI1i Uhlve#lty: <>f ~g~;l78? ;,\.gatfi .· Street)Bugen~ OR97403~99(Js; tJSA:• . .. ·. .. .. .. senJ U,gei • Global News-Paradise Lost, Gained and Lost Again POSTMA~;~ER: ~d~~ ~{l~1·l~ Ei~t~ Dennis Harper, editor 31 uoro•.• l/87 Agllte St, ~ufli:rie; oR. [7403. SeCo!Jd.dass •···• postage pai4 at Eugei}e OR USP~ #OOOcS~1' >•· ·.. · ..·· .. ·/·>·:.·.<"<<··· ·<:·.... ~enditic:ciJx:~b4>du~t6rsta Add$2SOforprocessing ifpayment does not accompany your dues. vfsABnd Masfuitllid accepted, Add $1&00 for airmaihhipping . .·• ©All p~rslllldp~ill!nu are U)pyrighted by ISTE unless Olherwise specified.· Permisc sion for republiCation Of programs o:r papers must. first be gained from ISTE c/o Talbot SIGLogo. Membership (irtdudesTk lXJg: f::xcila1Jge) ·· Bielef¢1( ·.. · . ·. ·' < u.~~ . · · N<in-u .s• ISTEMemberPrice. 25.00 .. 3CHJO . ()pinions. eX~~ Jri this publieatioo are. those of the authors and do not necessilrilv Non·ISTE Member Price 30.00 35.00 · · reflect or represent the official policy of!STE. ' ' •I Page2 -----LOGO EXCHANGE----~ January 1990 Connections ... and then what? limited. The choices were often between poor quality CAl and BASIC programming. During those years, I recommended to my school system, as well as to many others with ~hom. I consulted, that it was appropriate to use only Logo m therr The decision to have several "theme" issues during this computer education program. Logo provided an open ended publication year seemed an exciting idea last spring when I environment that would work with any age level, could be first made the announcement. I have since discovered that a used with a limited amount of equipment, and was relatively commitment to theme issues can be stressful to the editor. inexpensive in a day when few school systems provided What if, I worry, no articles on the theme are submitted? What money for software. (If only we had had Logo Writer or Logo if articles that were promised don't arrive by the deadline? PLUS then, my advice would have been even more appropri And what will the columnists produce? Will they be able to ate.) maintain the tone of their column while still connecting to the theme of the issue as a whole. But times have changed. The software available for school computers is rich and varied. Generic tools such as If you received the October "Just for Beginners" issue, word processors and databases are widely available for all age then you know that most of the material in that issue was levels. Problem solving software abounds. There are simu indeed appropriate for beginners. That issue certainly gave lations that allow exploration in a variety of subject areas. me confidence that it was possible to produce an issue devoted Newer products such as HyperCard provide Logo-like envi to a theme without acquiring too many more gray hairs. ronments. Further, as you will see in this issue ofLX , Logo However, my anxiety about this current issue increased dra itself can be linked with all manner of other technologies and matically when I returned from a professional trip only to find Logo text and graphics can easily be exchanged with text and that not only were several of the columns late, but two of the graphics from other pieces of software. Logo no longer stands promised articles had not arrived. Within a couple of days I in isolation as one of the very few pieces of excellent software was breathing again as one of those articles arrived via express as it did 10 years ago. mail and the other via email from half way around the world. At the last moment the issue fell beautifully into place -with So what of the next decade for Logo? Logo "purists" more material than the journal could hold! would have us continue to insist that Logo in and of itself will revolutionize education and that there is no need for other I think you will find that there is a richness in the pieces of software. Increasingly, I believe, those purists are collection of material in this issue that would be hard to match standing alone. Those of us in the Logo community n~ to anywhere: from classroom connectio~ through technical be open to new Logo-like environments-places that provtde information; from research to teacher training. But more than the same kinds of exciting learning experiences that Logo has the specific projects and ideas discussed in these pages are the provided in the past. Does that mean we abandon Lo~o? issues raised. Thinking about those issues caused me to reflect Certainly not Logo is still the best tool for many learrung on the changes in the role of Logo in computer education over activities, as you will clearly see in the pages of this issue. the past decade. So, as you read through the pages of this LX think about Some 8 or 9 years ago, I first introduced Logo to my what you believe the role of Logo and LX should be in the school system via a special project in one of our elementary future. Read with care the last part of Glen and Gina Boll's schools. We had only a few computers scattered through our "Logo & Company" column and cast your vote for or against system and this project was an opportunity to try something their concept of Learner-Based Tools. Spend some time new. It wasn't long until Logo spread throughout our grade thinking about where Logo fits in the broader scheme of things schools and into our secondary schools. Even though we -and then share your thoughts. Glen and Gina and I would all continually added equipment and copies of Logo, our re love to hear your opinions. sources were limited. One computer to a classroom was an unusual luxury; more often 2 or 3 classrooms shared a single Sharon Yoder computer. SIGLogo IS1E In the early 1980's, most computer equipment was quite 1787 Agate Street expensive, dramatically limiting the number of computers a Eugene, OR 97403 school could afford. However, the software was also very CIS: 73007,1645 BITNET: Yoder@Oregon January 1990 -----LOGO EXCHANGE ----IJ!l-- Page3 Connections: The Process of In this case, SQUARE is connected to TRIANGLE through the intermediate commands of FORWARD 50 and RIGHT Procedures 30. Commands such as these prepare the way for the next by Tom Lough procedure to carry out its instructions. I have learned to enjoy and appreciate telecommunica Many teachers feel that they are connected to their tions and electronic mail. For example, I send this column to students like this. Sharon by email each month. When I call up the mainframe computer, it signals that it is ready for operation by sending a TO EDUCATE single word to my computer screen: TEACHER STUDENT CONNECT END Seeing that word appear always excites me, because I realize The TEACHER procedure is connected directly to the SID that I will be in electronic touch with other Logo colleagues in DENT procedure.