selling teaching Logo

[Kathryn Boyle <boyle@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I like the way Wendy uses music to explain the teaching of programming 
and I remember the interesting discussion that comment sparked last 
summer.  I have been very lucky in my school that the value of teaching 
Logo was recognized right away.  But, I do get new parents who want to 
understand why we have made this choice.  I often point out to them 
that the one thing you can be sure of in the world of computers is 
change.  The computers and the software we are using with our students 
today will not be the same as they will use in High School and will 
certainly not be the same as they will use as adults.  When I started 
teaching with Logo word processing was anything but intuitive, 
keyboards did not have arrow keys, we didn't use a mouse, going back 
and forth between applications was difficult, the computer did not have 
an internal hard drive and you had to use a disk that included the 
operating system on it.  I remember when I proudly added memory to my 
computer and had the huge sum of 1 meg.  So, the skills we need to give 
our students must transcend and hopefully help them cope with whatever 
changes come their way.  The skills we want to give them should help 
them in other areas of learning, not just when they sit down to type a 
book report or use a data base .

Happy exploring,
Kathy
Londonderry Private School
Harrisburg, PA