June 22, 2005

Today's initial activity was designed to reveal that in reality, computers are stupid machines. They do everything exactly as they are told. First, the kids were divided into two teams. Each team wrote a procedure, or program, for Ronnie to make ants-on-a-log (peanut butter spread on a stick of celery with raisins on top). After each team wrote their program on the board, Ronnie followed their programs to the word. Neither teams programs worked as planned, so the students went back and modified them until they worked.

When the students came back from snack, Simon showed them some simple commands for Logo. Logo, he explained, is a programming language developed in the 1970's for teaching purposes. The class was divided into teams of two, and each team got a computer. Simon showed them how to use Logo to do their math homework, draw shapes, and make procedures. A procedure is a saved set of instructions for Logo. At the end of the class, each team ran their favorite procedure and displayed it on the projector.