[MWForum]Logo success story

[Michael C Gizzi]

Ah but Gary... the last paragraph is probably the most important one of them
all.  We make real strides in helping kids to learn, and then politicians
pull the rug right out from underneath us.

Mike


Michael Gizzi
Mesa State College
Center for Agent-Based Modeling
http://www.modelingcomplexity.org 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mwforum-admin@lists.mathcats.com [mailto:mwforum-
> admin@lists.mathcats.com] On Behalf Of Gary McCallister
> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 2:49 PM
> To: mwforum@lists.mathcats.com
> Subject: Re: [MWForum]Logo success story
> 
> I was trying to get a local principle excited about Logo so we could teach
> a
> class in her school.  She had a son who was in the fourth grade so I
> invited her
> to bring her son to my house and I would teach him a lesson in Logo while
> she
> watched.  We set the time on a Saturday night  because they were going
> skiing
> that day.  (her son was a rather accomplished skier for his age.)
>      So when they arrived I sat him down at the computer and began a very
> traditional first lesson.  I showed him how to tell the turtle to forward
> and
> back and right and left and then asked him to draw a square.  He figured
> this
> out after a little and then I taught him how to use repeat.  Then I
> challenged
> him to draw a circle.  We talked about how to walk in a circle, on step
> forward
> and a little right and he set to work.  But he didn't know how many steps
> to
> take.  His first attempt was just an arc.  So he begin making his little
> repeat
> program over and over adding steps each time while we watched.  As he got
> closer
> and closer to a full circle he added smaller and smaller numbers of steps.
> Then
> somewhere right around 350 or something he paused and then loudly
> exclaimed,
> "That's why they call it a three sixty!" and then quickly typed in his
> correct
> number.  See, he knew how to leap into the air on his skis and make a
> complete
> revolution while skiing, and he knew that the maneuver was called a three
> sixty,
> but he had no idea why.
>      It was tremendously exciting to see him make that discovery.  In
> addition,
> we started teaching Logo in the elementary school the very next year and
> did so
> for three years, until the Governor of Colorado, Bill Owens, mandated
> testing
> and the teachers all abandoned Logo to teach to the tests.  (And in this
> way,
> education was improved in our little community.  You probably want to
> leave this
> little bitter note at the end off of the story.  ;-)
> 
> 
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