Hi Terje, Answers in line below: The turtle graphics concept is often used as a basic teaching tool. Logo, > Scratch, etc. > It seems easy to understand for children, and is a good way to get started. > > I have some additional questions to that, though: > How long before children get tired (bored) with the concept? > How would one move on from Turtle graphics? > What other concepts or paradigms might also be used? >
I just posted a blog post on the subject of Clojure + teaching kids programming + Logo: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2016/03/teaching-kids-to-program-in-their.html The timing of that post and this email thread is fortuitous. The post should address the above points. But to briefly summarize, the point of the clojure-turtle project is to have a version of Logo that shows that we can build a bridge between kids learning Logo (a Lisp) and solving more complex problems using Clojure (a Lisp). What the post didn't say is that the project's Github front page README shows examples that start to very subtly insert and blend in more Clojure functions and functional programming ideas. I believe that a lot more work can be done to turn subtle hints of a Logo-FP bridge into a fuller, more comprehensive course of instruction. If carried out and executed well, I think we can avoid what is described in this page under the section "The Tragedy of Logo" - http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?LogoLanguage -- "most of the schoolkids who learned Logo hit the ceiling of their instructors' knowledge before they reached any limit of the language's capabilities ... a six-year-old can learn the basics of turtle control in a matter of minutes, but can continue building on those fundamentals indefinitely, and eventually use the same tools to master advanced programming concepts" > Are there other different approaches that might work equally well (or > better)? > Any personal ideas/suggestions? > I haven't yet read the original book Mindstorms by Seymour Papert, but that's the next thing to do. I believe he proposed a much, much richer, tactile, multi-sensory turtle experience than *just* a sprite on a 2D graphics plane. It's a simple idea but a very powerful one. I think it is worth exploring to the fullest, and my intuition is that doing so will produce the most return for the effort given. It's funny that our notion of Logo is a subset of all that he originally proposed, and that our common usage of Logo is a small subset of the language's full power. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
