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LOGOVID.TXT
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2006-10-19
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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 1990.
^^^^^^^^^ THE ULTIMATE "TI LOGO" TUTORIAL:
AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL USER GROUP FUND RAISING PROJECT
^^^^^^^^^^^^^reviewed by Charles Good
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Lima Ohio User Group
Here is an opportunity to
help yourself and the TI
community in the following
ways: 1) Explore some TI
software about which you are
probably unfamiliar; 2)
Encourage new users of the
99/4A and thus broaden the
user base of our hobby; and
3) Give a charitable
donation that is directly
related to the use of the
99/4A. You can't lose!
Let me introduce you to
the Oakland Computer Club of
Oakland Maine, perhaps the
most active TI user group in
the United States. The 50
members are all aged 5-14
and students at
Oakland's Atwood-Tapley
Elementary School. The
members and their six
volunteer advisors meet one
afternoon or evening a week
throughout the entire year.
How many other user groups
can claim year round weekly
scheduled activities? The
school library has three
permanent 99/4A work
stations with printers.
There are also 14 mobile
computer carts with 99/4A
systems, mostly cassette,
that are wheeled from
classrooms to the library
for Computer Club meetings.
Student members learn BASIC
and LOGO programming, and
study using educational
software. The Oakland
Computer Club even publishes
a newsletter once or twice a
year, which they send to
other user gruups on an
exchange basis. Unlike many
other TI user group
newsletters, the Oakland CC
newsletter contains entirely
original material including
teaching materials and
samples of the member's
creative efforts.
The driving force behind
this unique organization is
Eunice Spooner, a former
elementary school teacher
until she was disabled in an
auto accident. The other
adult volunteers are parents
who help set up equipment
and provide the Oakland CC
with other sorts of non
technical assistance.
Eunice pretty much organizes
the whole thing and is the
club's volunteer teacher.
She has Masters degrees in
Biology and in Education.
One of her graduate school
projects involved the then
newly developed LOGO
programming language, and
she is probably one of the
most knowledgeable people
anywhere in TI LOGO II. To
acquaint the TI community
with the use and operation
of TI LOGO and to raise some
money for the Oakland CC,
Eunice has put together an
absolutely supurb LOGO
tutorial on videotape with a
supplementary disk of
software.
LOGO is mainly used to
create really neat screen
graphics. A little triangle
shaped object called the
"Turtle" is the pen. Logo
commands such as Left Turn
(so many degrees), Right
Turn (so many degrees),
Foreword or Backward (so
many "turtle steps") move
the turtle around the
screen. As the turtle moves
foreword it draws a line
with the aid of "Pen Up" and
"Pen Down" commands. You
can create really intricate
designs by using multiple
repetitions of simple
designs. In addition to
"turtle graphics", TI LOGO
II supports text, sprites,
and music. As in FORTH, you
can develop complex one word
LOGO commands which
incorporate many simpler
words in a specific
combination. In LOGO the
commands are not called
words, they are called
"procedures". As an
educational tool, LOGO can
be used to teach the concept
of coordinate systems, the
mathematics of geometrical
shapes, and computer
programming. My 12 year old
son used a mechanical LOGO
turtle at his school. His
turtle rolled across the
floor on top of a sheet of
paper. With the proper
commands, Ian tried to get
this mechanical turtle to
draw specific shapes on the
paper.
Eunice's video tape
shows the computer screen
while you hear Eunice's
voice explaining everything
that happens. Her teaching
talent really shows. I
have seen a number of
narrated TI99/4A
instructional and
demonstration videotapes,
and in most of them you
can't tell from the
narration which keypresses
produce the screen activity
you are seeing on the
videotape. Eunice is very
careful to avoid this
problem. She always says
something like, "When I
press Function and 1
simultaneously..." and you
then see what happens. The
video tape is almost 5 hours
long, divided into specific
lessons each lasting no
more than an hour. Your
attention span is not taxed
because each lesson has a
logical break such as saving
what you have done so far to
disk. One of the problems
with my own Funnelweb
videotape tutorial is that I
talked on and on
continuously for almost 2
hours. It was a good
tutorial, but it bored many
of my viewers after awhile.
The LOGO tutorial starts
out with the assumption that
the viewer knows nothing at
all about TI LOGO, which is
true for most of us. This
doesn't mean that Eunice
talks "to children" on the
videotape. This tutorial is for
a mature audience.
Eunice does sometimes say,
"When I try to explain this
concept to the children I
say...." If you already
know some LOGO, you can
rapidly move on to some of
the advanced lessons.
Virtually all features of TI
LOGO except music
programming are covered in a
very logical step by step
order. The accompanying
disk contains all the
procedures and tiles created
in the videotape, plus some
extra stunning graphic
displays. At the end of the
videotape you can see Eunice
herself showing off some of
the equipment used by the
club, including bulletin
board displays and the
mobile computer work
stations.
LOGO is fun for kids of
all ages, and it is really
educational for school
children. If you have kids
(or consider yourself a kid)
you should introduce them to
TI LOGO II. This means you
yourself should know
something about LOGO, and
the best way to learn is
from Eunice's tutorial.
The VHS video tape and
accompanying disk cost $10,
including media, postage,
and a small amount left over
for the coffers of the
Oakland CC. Additional
donations of money,
software, and computer
equipment are welcomed by
the club. The LOGO
tutorial and the Oakland
Computer Club are definitely
worthy of your attention.
Oakland Computer Club
c/o Eunice Spooner
Box 3720
Webb Road
Waterville ME 04901
.PL 1