Assignment 3: MicroWorlds Project (July 1 & 2)

The second multimedia program we will work on is MicroWorlds since this software is useful at all elementary grade levels, and it is also good for most middle school and secondary school subjects. MicroWorlds has an excellent mathematics component, and so is especially useful in mathematics classes. LOGO, which is a part of MicroWorlds, is used in many schools and should, in my opinion, be used much more widely. I say this because Logo is a model of the real world, and as such, is an aid to thinking.

Besides that, LOGO is a lot of fun.

Papert designed LOGO so that learners can "teach" the computer new words, which is an excellent learning method in itself. One of LOGO's strongest learning aspects occurs when a learner "teaches" the computer something, and what happens on the screen is different from what the learner expected. This is a type of constructive feedback that does not carry the threatening overtones of a teacher or another person saying, "You are wrong!" The learner, instead of saying, "I'm so dumb," says instead, "Oh! I see what I need to do." This is a whole psychologically different outlook on learning. Adjusting the commands until you get the result is pleasing, and it is a much more satisfying way to learn than if the goal is just to please the teacher or to get the answer in the back of the book.

Note: Help in the use of MicroWorld tools and LOGO commands can be found by going back to the Home Page and clicking on the appropriate link there. Help can also be found under the "Help" menu in the MicroWorlds program.

July 1: First 45 minutes

1. For everyone: The instructor will demonstrate briefly the LOGO capabilities of MicroWorlds.

2. For 30 minutes: Those who have not yet demonstrated their HyperStudio projects will finish their development of their projects. Those who have demonstrated their projects will begin their MisroWorlds projects. Remember to include in your demonstration comments relating to difficulties, discoveries, surprises, and successes which you have while working on the project, and which you think might be helpful to others in the class.

Remainder of class: Work on the MicroWorlds LOGO Project (below)

1. Either by yourself or with one or two others (your choice), pick a topic appropriate for the grade level or subject you teach.

2. Develop a MicroWorlds LOGO project relating to this topic.

3. After you have done a very small amount of development, save your work. You must use "Save As" on the "File Menu" the first time you save a program. With the "Save As" command you will be prompted for a name for the program.

4. Continue developing and polishing this project for the remainder of the class.

5. Keep notes on difficulties, discoveries, surprises, and successes which you have while working on the project, and which you think might be helpful to others in the class.

6. Note: Each time you make a change, save your changed program to your disk. Otherwise, you may possibly lose some of your changes. Use the "Save" command every time after you save the first time using the "Save As" command. This will save the changed program in place of the previously saved program.

July 2

Demonstrate your project for the class on the big screen projector. Include in your demonstration any comments you have relating to difficulties, discoveries, and successes, and which you think might be helpful to others in the class.