RE: Feed Back

["Gary McCallister" <mccallis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, thank you. I really rather expected some criticism.  I think the article
probably needs it.  But you are kind and I am glad it was helpful to you.

Gary McCallister

http://www.onemanmormonbluesband.com
semi-serious and quasi-comic music for the non-disciminating consumer
>>> cmyers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 09/18/06 8:10 PM >>>
Gary,

I can't thank you enough for this wonderful and deeply engaging history of
Seymour Papert and of Logo.  It helps me understand (and better yet explain)
why we've been working for 6 years to build a nationally (and
internationally) scaleable after-school program around MicroWorlds Logo.
We're now reaching 15% of the 3rd-5th graders in 8 low-income schools in
Denver and growing -- still a tiny footprint compared to our dreams.  

All of this energy and effort were inspired by Seymour Papert's vision as
expressed in Mindstorms (1980) and by watching children engage with Logo in
my prior years as an elementary school teacher.  But now, with your help,
I'll be able to give words to what has been almost intuitive, and I think
this will be very helpful to me in communicating with people who are helping
us get better at evaluating the impact of our program on children's school
success. 

OWL has many MicroWorlds resources on our MicroWorlds in Action web site
that may be of help to your friend.  They have been developed by my
colleagues Wendy Petti, Daniel Ajoy, and Andrea Duran.  I hope they may
prove as useful to your friend as this beautiful piece of writing has been
to me.  


-Chris

Christopher Myers
Founder & CEO
OpenWorld Learning / OWL
303-744-8495
www.openworldlearning.org
  


-----Original Message-----
From: mwforum-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:mwforum-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Gary
McCallister
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 3:29 PM
To: mwforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Feed Back

I am helping a teacher in hopes to get Logo started at her school.  I have
written this brief overview for her.  I would be glad to have your
impressions,
feedback, critiques, changes, what have you on the following overview.  

LOGO AND LEARNING
by 
Gary Loren McCallister

	Logo started out as a computer language, but has ended up as an
educational philosophy of considerable power.  I will explain how this came
about in the next section (History and Philosophy).  I will then explain why
it
is so powerful in the closing section (Biology of the Mind).

History and Philosophy:
	In the 1950's (approximately) Seymour Papert, a mathematician went
to
France and studied with Jean Piaget.  Piaget proposed the theory that
children
must construct their own understanding of the world through their
experiences. 
This theory has become known as constructivism.  Papert was influenced by
this
method of thinking.
	Upon Papert's return to the US he co-founded the first artificial
intelligence laboratory in the United States at MIT along with a logician
named
Marvin Minsky.  A side issue for Papert was his interest in education. Early
on
he had an interest in developing what he thought of at the time as a "math
world", where children could become comfortable with mathematic principles
and
numbers with experiences such as the learned language, almost intuitively.  
	He thought that computers might be a way that could happen, although
this was in the day of the large main frame computers and most people did
not
think about giving children access to large expensive machines for which
there
was much competition for use.  The prevailing language used in artificial
intelligence circle of the day was a language known as Lisp.  Papert
developed a
variant of this language that was child friendly, and named it Logo (Greek
for
word).
	The concept behind this language was that it would have an almost
non-existent threshold, but no ceiling.  That is, he wanted it to be so easy
and
intuitive that a child could do something with it quickly, but have no real
built in limits so that anything that could be done in any other languages
could
also be done in Logo.  
	It was first utilized with large main frame computers controlling a
robot on the floor.  Children could enter simple English word-like commands
through the terminal and the robot would respond.   For example, telling the
robot to "forward 10 would move the robot a certain direction, for a
specific
distance.  This floor robot had a dust cover over the computer and machinery
that was shaped a little like a bowl, making the robot appear to be a little
like a turtle.  Hence the first Logo robots were termed a "turtle" by the
children.  When the floor turtle was later replaced by just a cursor on a
screen, the terminology remained.  All Logo systems are built around the
idea of
a moveable cursor that can respond to simple commands.  
	As Papert experimented with children using computers, he began to
see
that when children produce a tangible object, an external product, that they
learn, not just mathematics and, but language and history and almost any
subject
better.  This concept has come to be called constructionism.  In other
words,
people experience constructivism especially well when they construct
something. 

	Several different versions of the Logo language have been developed
over
the years.  Some no longer exist, some have been continually refined, new
ones
have been recently invented, some are free downloads and some are commercial
releases.  But the Logo movement has come to be more about a way of teaching
than, necessarily, the software.  The Logo programming languages are simply
designed to help people control their computer world and to create new
products
that help them explore and learn. 

Biology of the Mind (Why Logo Works):
	The brain is made up of neurons and synapses.  Neurons are the cells
capable of conducting an electrical impulse.  Synapses are the junctions
between
neurons.  When a neuron has an electrical charge it is "on".  When it
doesn't
have a charge it is "off".  Thus it operates in binary function like a
computer.
 Different than a computer, however, a single neuron can synapse to multiple
other neurons so that the "on" message can be conducted in many directions
at
once.  This is called parallel processing.  
	When we are born we have 20 billion neurons with about 1000
connections
apiece.  But they are in a disorganized mess.  So in coming information goes
everywhere and a babies responses are slow and uncoordinated because the
information is going everywhere.  With time, certain synapses become favored
and, while the information may continue to go many ways, it moves most
efficiently along certain pathways.  By the time we are about 15 we still
have
20 billion neurons, but each now has about 10,000 connections and we have
smooth
quick responses to most sensory information. Learning is the development of
new
connections.
	Memory is the development of sequences of neurons along these
favored
pathways.  When we remember something, we reactivate a series of neurons in
exactly the same sequence as they were activated at the previous time when
we
first learned or experienced that concept or event.  We sometimes call these
lines k-lines.  
	The cerebrum of the brain (consciousness) has five lobes.  Four of
those
lobes are devoted to interpreting and responding to the senses.  (One lobe
processes two senses, taste and smell, in the same area).  These lobes are
collections of k-lines for that sensory system.  The fifth lobe is called
the
frontal lobe and that is where humans handle abstractions, planning and
generalizations.  However, the frontal lobe relies on the sensory lobes for
information about how to use abstractions.  Consequently we cannot talk
about
abstract ideas without using real world terminology such as loud colors,
politically right or left, big ideas, strong faith etc.  
	Children have difficulty thinking abstractly.  There may be several
reasons for this difficulty, but one is that they have not developed enough
experiences with the sensory world.  Until they have developed a rich
experience
with the spatial world of place, time and energy (sometimes called spatial
IQ)
they cannot hope to use those same ideas and the attached language to
discuss
abstractions.  Consequently they need more experiences so that they can
develop
more k-lines for the spatial world.  
	Logo allows the student a chance to experience the world, think
about
the world, and manipulate the world in a spatial way that is very concrete
and
precise.  This develops more k-lines.  Turtles move in all directions by
prescribed numbers of steps, colors are precise hues with number values, the
turtle turns through angles of a number of degrees and the placement on the
page
of text or drawings is precise with the use of screen coordinates and
angles. 
The student can literally create their own worlds and set up their own laws
and
universe.  
	In the process of constructing their own world, the students develop

new neurons and synapses that help prepare them for future abstract
reasoning. 
The only activity that may be as powerful, or even more powerful since it is
more highly structured, is the study of music.  
	












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