Due Wednesday April 20, 9am --
In preparation for Thad Curtz’s workshop on Papert and Piaget April 20, and to give you an opportunity to articulate your understanding of Mindstorms, we are giving you an opportunity to write a short essay.
You have read some or all of the Introduction, Ch.1, 2 and 3 of Mindstorms. Papert’s goals and objectives for the Logo programming language were based on his own experience learning mathematics, and on the work of Jean Piaget. In the first paragraph of your essay, summarize those goals, and Papert’s rationale for why and how Logo would meet those goals.
In the second paragraph, describe in some detail someone’s (your own or someone you know) difficulty in learning math, or his or her math phobia. Be sure to give explicit examples of how the difficulties presented themselves, were brought about, and/or were conquered. Finally, in a summary paragraph, discuss whether Logo could overcome the difficulties you describe. If you think not, say why and how you would either change Logo to do that or what other medium might be used to overcome those difficulties and why you think that would work. If you think Logo could overcome the difficulty, say why you think it would or could.
This short essay should be no longer than one page, single-spaced. Other than single-spacing the paper, follow your program’s guidelines for handing in writing assignments.