From: led11@ccc.amdahl.com (Lynn Robinson)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.logo
Subject: Logo books
Date: 11 Sep 92 20:28:10 GMT
Reply-To: led11@juts.ccc.amdahl.com ()
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA


In article <1992Sep9.134740.6889@sctc.com> smith@sctc.com (Rick Smith) writes:

>I've been carrying on a hunt for books on teaching LOGO in grade
>school. My daughter is turning 8 and we're trying to explore LOGO
>together.  So I was interested when led11@ccc.amdahl.com (Lynn
>Robinson) wrote:
>
>>  I am fairly new to Logo and have bought and borrowed a few books on 
>>the subject which I have been skimming for interesting ideas for beginners. 
>>Thus far, however, I haven't been that successful in finding good ones 
>>(although I've recently acquired Dan Watt's book and another book called 
>>'Nudges' which looks a little better than some of the other books I've
>>seen).
>
>Is this a book about LOGO programming for grade school kids?  Could
>you post the name and/or author and/or publisher and/or ISBN of that
>book?

_Learning with Logo_ by Daniel Watt, McGraw-Hill Book Company
ISBN 0-07-068570-3
  This book is designed for adults and children to use together.  It
could be used by a child alone who is a very good reader and about 12
or older.  I believe that younger children would need the assistance of a 
parent or teacher.  I recommend this book highly to parents.  Unfortunately,
it is not ideal for teachers since it doesn't have easily copied 
lessons, i.e. every student would need to have his/her own book.

_Nudges - Apple Logo Projects_ by Bull, Riordon, and Tipps  
Holt, Rinehart, and Winston   ISBN 0-03-002737-3
  This book seems to be designed for teachers (to copy for their students) 
and has more self-contained "period" size lessons.  It basically contains 
worksheets, although the pages aren't perforated, making copying more 
cumbersome.  Some of the projects look pretty fun, but it does seem to 
give the student very detailed, specific instruction.  All books designed 
for teachers to use seem to do this, and it might be necessary for the 
sanity of someone responsible for 30 kids.

Another beginner's book on Logo is:
_Apple Logo_, by Harold Abelson
BYTE/McGraw-Hill,  ISBN 0-07-000425-0
  This book is mostly aimed at adults, high school students, or younger 
people who are very bright and independent.  It is good for
people who want to get an understanding of the power of Logo very
quickly.  I would recommend it to parents or teachers of older students
who want to learn Logo themselves.  It describes several interesting
programming ideas, but its focus is on learning the Logo language, and
is not a book of projects.

>
>>  Some of the 6th graders seem to have been "taught" Logo (in a 
>>very un-Piagetian manner) for almost a year, although they only used it for
>>at most 45 minutes per week.  I was not very impressed with the book they 
>>had been using, since it contained a series of worksheets that told the
>>children pretty much exactly what to type, after which the children
>>were told to draw what appeared on the screen.  
>
>Could you post the name and/or author and/or publisher and/or ISBN of
>that book? Worksheets would at least provide a starting point for us.

I keep forgetting to bring this book into work.  I think it's called
Exporations in Logo (or something similar) and is published by 
Creative Publications.   I believe Creative Publications has an
office here in Sunnyvale so you could call Sunnyvale information
(408) 555-1212 to get their telephone number and ask them perhaps.
However, I don't recommend this book as much anyway since it 
isn't as good as Dan Watt's book.

>
>Is there a good book about "Piagetian" approaches to teaching LOGO?

  I wish I knew.   Does anyone else out there know of any such books?
Mindstorms by Seymour Papert is the only book I know of which really 
talks about this, but this book is mostly about Papert's philosophy of 
learning and does not contain very many project ideas and is not much 
help to a teacher who must come up with ideas on a day-to-day basis.   
I know there are magazines such as Logo Exchange which publish project
ideas, but one would probably have to order and search through
many issues to find even a few good lesson ideas.

  I would really appreciate suggestions from people who have actually 
_tried_ their project ideas on classes of > 20 children.

  Lynn Robinson