Children are not learning to program computers at our schools and are becoming consumers of an array of one-use educational programs or the same old word-processing and spreadsheet applications. Learning to program empowers children to understand computers better and create cool things for their peers to use.
redware research ltd is developing a complete (free) set of course notes and applications to help parents and teachers teach children to program in Logo. We support learning to program for children from the age of three years old up to university level. Logo is also a great programming language for adults to learn. So far, just the first module is available below for 3-6 years olds and special children.
We use MSWLogo which is a great, free, Logo with Microsoft Windows extensions developed on top of UCBLogo by George Mills of Softronix. You should have little trouble getting our programs to run on Linux or Macintosh systems with UCBLogo or any other flavour of Logo for that matter.
Download a copy of MSWLogo now from Softronix.
One key logo is the perfect introduction to the Logo turtle and allows children from three years old to explore their creativity by controlling a turtle which draws patterns on the computer screen. Our implementation also allows the turtle to be driven by clicking with the mouse and should be suitable for classroom lessons with an interactive whiteboard. One key Logo has also been extensively used with special children over the past thirty years although a physical floor turtle may get a better response from some children. more...