EDUCATION 389-4

SPECIAL TOPICS: LOGO

Regular Summer Semester, 1989

Instructor: ?

David Bell

(May 8-August 4)

Monday, 5:30 - 9:20 P. M.

Location: MPX 8504

PREREQUISITE:

EDUC 401/402 or equivalent.

The Computer is going to be a catalyst of very deep and radical change in

the educational system. Guiding that change will require far more than

new facts, new statistics and new policies. We need new conceptual

frameworks for thinking about the learned process itself. (Papert, 1984).

Seymour Papert, one of the creators of Logo, is concerned that children

are being programmed by computers, rather than the other way around.

Logo (and the Logo culture & environment) is a way of putting the child

back in control of his own learning. This course will look at the two

elements present in Logo; on the one hand it is a programming language

and on the other, it is a way to begin thinking about thinking.

This is an in-depth immersion in the Logo environment. The course will

function as a professional seminar. Class time will be divided between

lecture/demonstration, hands-on computer time and class discussions.

All are expected to contribute by participating fully, by sharing their

experiences, ideas, readings, bugs, experimentations and frustrations.

Each student will have an opportunity to present her work to the class for

responses and extensions.

Looking at classroom curriculum connections and the Logo teacher's

role will be an ongoing theme of the class discussions. Each participant

will complete several programming projects and create a classroom

curriculum or in-service training unit for future use. Participants may be

entirely new to Logo or experienced in using it.

REQUIRED TEXT:

Papert, Seymour; Mindstorms; New York: Basic Books, 1980

There will also be a set of readings available at the first class meeting.