ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER -- 1993 ~~~~~ TI-101 ~~~~~ OUR 4/A UNIVERSITY by Jack Sughrue Box 459 E.Douglas MA 01516 #8 EUNICE AND THE KIDS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^or LIFE AMONG THE LOGOPHILES In this last session, Class, I wanted to spend some time explaining why the TI is still the best educational tool you can have in your homes or classrooms for young and old children. And everyone in between. By old, I mean in the 90's. Sister Pat Taylor's learners even include Centenarians! To learn more about this extraordinary woman and her extraordinary group of elderly computer buffs, write to her at 1050 Carmel Drive #456, Dubuque, Iowa, 52001. I don't know if Sister Pat calls her very active TI devotees an official user group, but they are. And they are probably the only All Nun User Group in America (The ANUGA Group of Iowa?). And, yes, Class, I checked our map here at the university and there really is a place called Iowa. Sister Pat is one of the two most active TIers with whom I have ever had the opportunity to correspond. The other does officially operate the only All Kids TI User Group in America. No, not AKTIUGA, Mr.^Shakespeare. It is the Oakland UG from Maine. And the enegetic and ingenious leader is Eunice Spooner (Webb Road, Box 3720, Waterville ME 04901). Though the group puts out a newsletter that includes delightful programs written by the students and though the kids take field trips to the Computer Museum in Boston and though there is a highly developed TI computing program in the schools as well, I am not going to discuss any of those achievements by Mrs.^Spooner. Except to say they and others are considerable. Instead, I want to focus this particular class on a particular specialty of that remarkable woman: LOGO. Now, don't shake your heads and shut down, as if LOGO were beneath you. Especially you, Ms.^Bronte, who keep pestering me about adult stuff. I can guarantee all of you - those with little kids somewhere, including inside of you, and those who were born elderly - that LOGO can fit everybody's need to learn, to discover, to create, to explore, to develop the intellectual discipline of logical reasoning. There just is not another tool like it. The computer is the perfect tool for the learning that only LOGO can provide. The TI LOGO II, as you will see, is our perfect educational tool. I'd like to begin our last session together by reading a recent review (ah, nice alliteration there) from NEW-AGE/99 about Eunice's video tape package: "There is a great video now available to TI owners: the full-length LOGO video done by Eunice Spooner (RFD 1, Box 3720, Webb Road, Waterville, ME 04901). It is wonderful! It also comes with a disk full of lots of the items she demos and a hardcopy listing of the items and footage for easy tape locations. "Eunice is a certified elementary teacher and it is obvious on this tape. She's terrific: kind, patient, step-by-step logical, no panic; and she makes everything seem easy and fun. Which it is, if you do the things she suggests. "I always liked LOGO. Then I put it away for a long time. After viewing this tape and trying her programs, I discovered I LOGO. "If you own LOGO, get this package instantly. At $10 it is a total steal. And it is used as a fundraiser to support the only ALL KIDS TI USER GROUP IN THE WORLD! If you don't own LOGO, buy it instantly. (It's on sale everywhere CHEAP! Years ago I paid $119 for my first,and recently bought an unopened boxed one for $15.) But, new or used, pick one up for this video/disk set alone. You'll rediscover the joys of computing and the real fun (and learning, which is why it is fun) of your remarkable 4A. Don't delay." But before I discuss Mrs.^Spooner's extraordinary LOGO adventures, I'd like to give you a bit of LOGO's history. A few years before the 4A was born, MIT Professor Seymour Papert formed a team to create a powerful, high-level computer language specifically designed for educational purposes involving some of the ideas from the field of Artificial Intelligence. Papert was a disciple of (and worked with) noted Swiss pyschologist Jean Piaget, the Father of Developmental Learning (creating learning environments in which learners learn naturally in the same way we all learned to walk and talk). Papert's classic book, MINDSTORMS, defines these ideas and explains the computer/learner relationship that led to his creating LOGO, still the most effective educational language - tool, if you will - that has ever been created. The book is still in paperback print. It should be in every computer buff's library, along with THE SECRET GUIDE TO COMPUTERS, which we mentioned a few sessions ago. When TI asked Papert to create an enhanced version (with music, sprites, and the like, peculiar to the TI), the field testing and the results thereof made TI history. It is a singular module in that it, in effect, allows each user to create his/her own PERSONALIZED computer language. What can LOGO do? Well, you can write programs with it. You can write text with it that can rewrite itself in poetic ways. You can draw with it, including making animated films. You can use it for math activities, for problem-solving, for puzzles, games, logic activities, for creating musical scores. It does use all the various built-ins we take for granted on our TI's. For example, you can create a unique design in the turtle drawing mode and animate it; then create a pile of new sprites (beyond the few that are built in); then create bigger piles of new "tiles" which make up the character sets. Now, with your newly created animated design as background (with instant colors of your choice for back and foreground), you may now set those sprites you created loose. Each of the 32 sprites can be set in motion at different speeds, in four different directions at the same time (using word terms like "EAST" or directional numbers), and each can be color defined from the TI's 16 color palette. All this, Class, can be done easier than in any other computer language. As a matter of fact, the learner takes him/herself through the stages needed to achieve these very complex routines. According to the philosophy of the LOGO developers, "LOGO has no threshold, no ceiling." The beginner can immediately do meaningful, exciting things with the program, while the most adept can do some very advanced things. And now we come back to Mrs.^Spooner's tapes. There are two: the one described earlier in the NEW-AGE/99 review and a second done at the recent Lima faire and part of Tape #2 (which can be ordered from Charles Good, Box 647, Venedocia OH 45894 for only $5). This latter tape is a gem. Mrs.^Spooner teaches Dr.^Good's first-grade daughter how to experience LOGO. Meaghan had never dealt with LOGO before, but she sits down confidently at the console, while Mrs.^Spooner, in her wheelchair behind her, begins the lesson. It's the perfect teacher doing a perfect job (with a perfect student, I might add). Step by step she works Meaghan from the opening "TELL TURTLE" through some very sophisticated LOGO-ing that I wouldn't have believed a six-year-old was capable of handling. And each mini-lesson builds upon the previous in such a way that Meaghan anticipates most of what would be happening after a very short time. For all of you teachers in the room here, I can only say that watching such a pro at work is certainly inspirational. I only wish the people who made the tape had been able to keep the room noises down and had been able to get the camera closer and in better light. In spite of these preventable problems (which I hope they cure next year by finding a small, quiet room to tape Mrs.^Spooner's teaching activities), the tape is one you'll watch again and again. The tutorial tape and software Mrs.^Spooner made for her club's release, however, is easy on the eyes and ears. Everything about the package is exceptional, including the price. I can't even begin to imagine anyone not leaping into LOGO after watching just a few minutes of it. Don't worry, Ms.^Bronte, you'll have a chance to see both of these tapes at the end of class. Then we'll all head for the lab, where we will all have more than enough time to get onto LOGO and play with some of the ideas we've learned. That's why I save LOGO for our last class. One third of your mark will be based on how well you can program your turtle to create a flower. Mrs.^Spooner, by the way, begins her lesson with Meaghan and her tape tutorial by introducing the turtle and explaining how it has to take steps forward or back, how it needs to be told to move its head in the direction it is about to go, how it can be made to repeat its little learned activities in such a way that its expertise allows it to perform like no other turtle has ever performed. Other LOGOphiles, however, think it's best to introduce this educational program through its Sprites and its Makeshape options. Still others feel its safest to start with the text and math PRINT options. Musically oriented types would probably feel the music learning should come first. Having watched many teachers introduce LOGO in many different ways, including the ultimate mind-killer of learning all the terms first, I have to concur with Mrs.^Spooner. The turtle seems the most logical, the easiest, the most fun. The turtle immediately allows the learner control of his/her environment with minimum instruction. There is so much written about LOGO, so many manuals, so many tutorials. After watching the tapes, look through the manuals which come with LOGO II and, after playing with the program a bit, load some of the samples that come with LOGO (disk and cassette come with the package, which, by the way, can still be purchased from TEXCOMP, at fairs, from clubs, and from vendors listed in newsletters and MICROpendium) and just enjoy and marvel. Call up the program and admire its efficiency. Then modify it and play some more. For the TI? Yes, Mr.^Shakespeare, there's a lot written on LOGO for the TI. The BEST OF 99er has some good articles, but they're a bit techie and are best read after you've used LOGO for a long time. Look over your book list from your notes a couple sessions ago. In there I mentioned THE LAST WHOLE TI99/4A BOOK by Paul Garrison, ACADEMIC TI by Mowe and Mummaw, and Russ Walter's immense SECRET GUIDE. These are all excellent sources for LOGO-ing and lots of other educational and informational items. Don't confuse Garrison LAST book with THE LAST WORD ON THE TI-99/4A by Linda and Allen Schreiber, which is really lousy. There are many, many other good LOGO books, though, some of which devote the entire book to LOGO. But there are four LOGO books you should beg, borrow, or steal for, if you come across them: TI's PROGRAMMING DISCOVERY IN TI LOGO STUDENT GUIDE. This was part of Texas Instruments Computer Advantage Club program. This 32-page 8X11 workbook is a quick tutorial and extremely handy quick reference guide, along with a presentation of all kinds of neato and peachy-keen Procedures (the term LOGO uses for Programs). Scholastic's LOGO FUN by Pat Parker and Teresa Kennedy first shows you how one can easily convert Apple, Atari, Krell, Terrapin LOGOs to and from TI's. It's 112 pages (8X11) have large type, lots of pictures, lots and lots and lots of procedures and ideas. It's a super book, but it doesn't explore all the unique aspects of TI LOGO II. A book that goes a lot farther along the LOGO line is Donna Bearden's A BIT OF LOGO MAGIC: Adventures for Intermediate Programmers. This is one of the most creative books ever written for any computer. (Actually, there are many versions out there.) The "TI" identification is on the front cover. Reston published our version in hard and paper (8X11). Donna also wrote 1,2,3, MY COMPUTER AND ME: a LOGO Funbook for Kids, which I would also highly recommend. This one, though, is a bit more advanced and is unique. It's written as a novel about Aristotle, a wise old wizard, and Little Bit, a mischievous dragon. Brad Foster's delightfully detailed drawings don't just enhance this "novel," but become an integral part. The chapter titles should give you an idea about how different this book is from any like it. Come to think of it, there aren't any like it. Here are some of the chapter titles: Elaborate Designs with Simple Shapes; Patterns, Tessellations, and Optical Illusions; Spider Webs and Other Magnificent Designs; Fractured Fables and Customized Cliches; An Adventure in the Dark Forest. This book even teaches you how to create quizzes. This is the one book on LOGO I wish I had written. Ah, well. And the last book is certainly not the least book. SPRITES, A TURTLE, AND TI LOGO by Jim Conlan and Don Inman (one of the original 4A manual writers) is the best (in the sense of complete) LOGO source you can buy. This is also published by Reston (which competed successfully with Hayden and COMPUTE! and SAMS to publish the most and best TI books on the market in our 4A's heyday. This book, though, is unequalled, as far as anything I have seen, to make the best use of LOGO. Nothing touches its sections on math, tiles, sprites, and the use of joysticks with LOGO. Its 228 pages (6X9) in small type are jampacked with detailed tutorials on almost all phases of LOGO (nothing on music). If you could couple some of these books with the LOGO manual, you would have a whole world to explore with your TI, still the best educational computer on or off the market. Anyway, Class, time is drawing nigh. You've been a good group. We'll be watching the Spooner videos next before we move to the lab for our final session. Review all your notes and all your cassettes and disks and cartridges and texts and magazines and newsletters for our final next week. What? Yes, Mr.^Shakespeare, there was a LOGO I. Lots of people are still using it. But II has many more enhancements. It's a better tool and toy. Although your projects are important and your lab work and, of course, your paper and your final, Class, THE most important thing you can take from this course is sharing your wisdom and newly-gained knowledge with some learners in your lives. Bring someone new to the TI: a spouce, friend, teacher, grandchild, grandparent, seventh cousin three times removed, Dan Quayle. Somebody. They are your next generation of 99ers. They and YOU are essential for our future. The 4A, itself, of course, is indestructable. You've been a good class. Hope we meet again. Adios.