Review: Terrapin Logo & Roamer Program for Elementary Students

There are many aspects to Logo including the language as in what can you now do in Logo and what commands you can master.

I learned how to make a cartoon and different animal characters by using commands for movement (i.e. "towalk" or "tobounce"). I feel like I have mastered the commands for making the turtle walk around in different patterns and shapes. I also feel I have mastered the command for making the Moose actually look like he is walking by practicing with one of my 3rd graders, Keena, and preparing for the exams. Logo isn't as hard as I thought it would be once I gave it a chance. I learned that it's usually not Logo's fault if a command doesn't work.

The philosophy of Logo coincides with Papert's book, "Children's Machine." Logo allows educators to pass on lessons on students in a way that they are interested in learning. Many kids learn when they are interested in what they are learning and have freedom of options on how to learn a particular lesson.

Roamer can be used to illustrate Fd/Bk, Lt, Rt, and programming in Terrapin. I had Keena pretend that the Turtle was Roamer and instead of programming a "robot," she was writing a program via the computer. I enjoyed Roamer better because it was hands-on and 3-dimensional. Keena and I worked more with Roamer than Logo and maybe this is the reason why we both found Roamer more interesting and easier to work with. I was able to give Keena real life "cues" when she was stuck on how to get roamer to turn a certain degree angle and it seems as though she better understood problem solving this way rather than with Logo. She was actually able to see Roamer move and bump into things, which is a more vivid and interesting display as oppose to Logo; however, when we did do Logo, Keena seemed to relate ideas she had acquired while using Roamer into writing programs for Logo.

Logo and Roamer helps solidify what new educators have been learning about the determinants of learning. I personally believe that there are more outside factors that effect learning and contribute to learning than I thought before. One thing is prior knowledge and exposure to Logo and Roamer. Keena had worked with Roamer a lot before I met her, but she hadn't worked with Logo very much at all. This showed when we both struggled with setting up commands for Logo whereas putting commands into Roamer seemed second nature. When compared to the other children, those with prior experience with Logo or Roamer remembered more of the commands and trouble-shot the quickest. To me this illustrated that previous exposure effects learning and how quickly a child learns.

The concept of memory can be easily demonstrated and explored when using both Logo and Roamer programs. This makes these two programs ideal for student teachers. During my own experiences, I learned that memory is something that can be retrieved. With Keena, she had worked with both programs before, but after giving her several cues, she was able to say, "Oh yeah! I remember learning that! Now, let me do it!" She "recovered" information she had learned before when given the right cues. These experiences with Keena helped me to see that memory is a process that is more complex than I thought. It's one thing to learn about memory in lecture, but it is another to observe someone using memory. I also learned that memory is something that can be enhanced. Keena remembered more about Roamer than Logo because I think she took more interest in Roamer and therefore learned more and remembered what she learned better. Giving her vivid examples, real life applications for Roamer (i.e. the units for Roamer being foot steps like her foot steps), and allowing her to trouble-shoot her own situations with Roamer seemed to enhance her memory and learning process because she was able to recall what she did during those times and what the outcome was better than other incidents.

The relevance of constructionism in learning can be a complex subject to grasp. However, while working with these two programs, I managed to gain valuable insight. I learned that when children are interested in learning and want to perform a particular task and they are allowed to draw their own conclusions as to what is happening, they are going to be more motivated and more likely to learn the lesson associated with the task. Keena became more creative when I asked her questions in attempt to help her reach her own solution. When Roamer wouldn't turn the direction she wanted it to, she then had to rethink the problem and try to solve it. With Logo, building her own Moose and programs for making the Moose do different actions helped me get a better idea of constructionism in learning because I saw her using ideas that she had to experiment with Logo and the process she went through when the red writing would come up indicating that we had typed something wrong or invalid. I saw her go through a process of elimination while she tried certain commands in attempt to make her script work.

"Powerful ideas" in problem solving is a key coginitive psychology concept related to Logo and Roamer. When having a problem with trying to make something work or trying to understand a concept, it helps to take the problem and break it down in order to problem-solve the issue. I didn't know anything about Roamer or Logo at the beginning of February 2006 when classes started, but now I know that I can simplify more complicated concepts in order to understand them better and apply them to lesson plans and Logo trouble-shooting. I also learned that taking a task I want to do and making step by step plans for it helps me to organize my thoughts and complete the task with fewer mistakes.

My Logo/Roamer teaching experience taught me a lot aout myself. I found I am capable of solving problems in a systematic way with out help if given enough information to figure it out for myself. When working with Keena, I really couldn't raise my hand and ask, "Hank, could you tell me how this works?" I had to use techniques that I had been taught in class in order to help Keena and to help myself get a better understanding of the program. I never really thought I could be successful at learning on my own in that way until now. I learned that I can apply powerful ideas to myself in order to learn. I also learned that I shouldn't underestimate a child because they can teach me new things about myself and about how the learning process works on many levels. Keena really opened my eyes to that. I learned that I can actually work with programs like Logo on my own without much assistance if I just give enough effort and brain power towards it. I learned that switching roles from learning and assisting can actually be a better learning experience than just being in a teaching/assisting role because I learned something new about Keena and the way she was approaching problems better. I also learned that just because this was done for a class, it didn't mean it had to be boring. It was actually fun and enjoyable. I looked forward to being with Keena every week. Each experience was like a new one when working with her and working with other students in groups. I also learned that I am not as "dumb" as I thought I was. Even though we used Roamer much more than Logo, Logo gave me more confidence in my computer skills and my abilities to understand the program and/or similar programs.

Some people are worried that computers will dehumanize learners and reduce interpersonal communications. My Logo partner, Keena, did not become dehumanized as some people may fear. In fact, Keena seemed more socialable while using Logo because it allowed her to apply thoughts from her experiences and life to a computer program. When looking at the map with the states of the US on it, not only was Keena able to remember states because of family members living there, but she was also using what the student at the next computer was saying to help them remember. It seems that she was able to draw a bridge between her and the computer and learn more about her ability to learn in which is the opposite of becoming dehumanized.

My student was able to relate subtraction/addition to FD and BK. She was able to write a lesson on Roamer and in Terrapin Logo by the end of my teaching experience. Keena was really advanced with Roamer to the point where she helped other students figure out the math involved in certain movements that Roamer made (i.e. back, forth, turn, spin in circle, etc .) We explicity worked on lessons on math while working with Roamer. Keena would ask me what angle would be half of 360 and I would set up a division problem in which we worked by dividing the 2 into the 3 and so forth. Keena made up her own songs on Roamer and even made Roamer "dance" after the song by giving it commands that she thought looked like "robot" dancing. It was very intriguing to see her come up with ideas for Roamer and follow through with them. With Logo, she did relate math to the movement or the turtle and Moose she created, however, she had a harder time because she was use to physically being able to estimate distance and movement whereas with Logo, it is on a computer screen and she had a harder time at first judging the distances that the turtle would move or turn.

Papert describes working with students in the book "Children's Machine." My work was like Papert in that with my assistance, Keena was able to use the Logo program on the computer as both a learning and teaching tool. Also the idea of Kitchen Math, relating a concept to something a child understands is anything aspect as to how my work was like Papert. Keena understood that if she walked 3 steps, then the units of Roamer could be programmed to walk three "Keena steps" and go the same distance she had when she was walking. This helped her to visualize movements and plan what she wanted Roamer to do and gave her a way to work through conceptual problems using concrete examples she could easily relate to and transfer.

My work was different from that Papert describes because I was not always the teacher that assisted her. Sometimes I was in the learning position and sometimes she was in the learning position. We switched roles often in attempt to use the program or robot whereas in Papert's book, the teachers were considered experts and knew what they were doing which put them in a position where they really didn't have to take the "learner's" seat.