2020 Logo Summer Institute Sessions

Arduino: Snap4Arduino and Tinkercad Circuits

Arduino is a great platform to extend the basic circuitry students learn with Hummingbird, Makey Makey, and micro:bit. Explore basic circuits with LEDs, servo motors, switches, and sensors and program them using blocks programming in Tinkercad Circuits, and extend the Arduino into physical computing in Snap4Arduino, where the Arduino circuit can interact with sprites on the screen.

Bee-Bot

Bee-Bot is a robot designed specifically for use by young children. This colorful, easy-to-operate, and friendly little robot is a perfect tool for teaching sequencing, estimation, problem-solving, and just having fun! We will also look at the Bee-Bot emulator which allows you to program a virtual Bee-Bot. Perfect for Remote Learning!

Beetle Blocks

Beetle Blocks is similar to TurtleArt but adds the Z axis, so you can code the beetle to create designs in 3D. There are several different options for downloading designs, including .STL for 3D printing and .SVG for fabricating on a WatercolorBot or laser cutter.

Circuit Playground Express: Introduction

Circuit Playground Express is a perfect introduction to electronics and programming. It is packed with sensors, buttons, switches and colored Neo-pixels. Learn to use MakeCode to program it and communicate with other CPXs.

Circuit Playground Express: Next Steps

We will explore the contacts around the outside of the CPX, using them to create circuitry that can extend further out into the physical environment.

Converting 2D images to 3D objects

A basic introduction to 3D printing for young students without the complications of working within a 3D environment. Learn how students can convert their own coded or hand-drawn images into 3D objects.

Generative Art and Music

Generative art and music use computer algorithms to introduce unpredictable and surprising results in making visual or musical ideas. We will demonstrate ways to use Scratch to create simple programs that produce varied outcomes. For more about this topic look at www.logofoundation.org/genart

Hummingbird Bit: Introduction

The micro:bit powered Hummingbird uses all the sensors and outputs of the micro:bit in addition to the Hummingbird sensors and outputs including the distance sensor, rotary knob, light sensor, sound sensor, leds and motors. The Hummingbird Bit can be programmed in many different languages. This session will focus on learning to program in Snap!

Hummingbird Duo: Ardublocks / Arduino

The Hummingbird Duo is built from an arduino. You can program robots that can move around without being connected by a cable to the computer in Ardublocks, a block-based version of Arduino. Ardublocks is a great bridge to learning how to code in text-based Arduino.

LEGO Robotics

The WeDo 2.0 Core Set is designed to enhance student's skills in science, engineering, and technology. In this session we will look at building robots using motors and sensors and programming them both with WeDo software and Scratch.

Lynxcoding: Introduction

Before there was Scratch, there was MicroWorlds, a text-based multi-media, interatctive, programming environment using Logo. And now there's Lynx, the new web-based version of MicroWorlds that includes sharing and re-mixing files within the Lynx community. Learn how to navigate and program games and turtle geometry in this text-based Logo environment.

Makey Makey and Scratch

Adding a Makey Makey to Scratch projects allows you and your students to build out your Scratch world into the physical world with simple craft materials and an exploration of simple circuitry. Create simple input interfaces to design a game controller, a musical instrument, or interactive text.

micro:bit and Scratch

Adding a micro:bit to Scratch projects allows you and your students to build out your Scratch world into the physical world with the micro:bit’s abundance of integrated sensors. Use the micro:bit as is to explore creative ways to interact with your Scratch projects, or use craft materials and simple circuitry to create your own input interfaces to design a game controller or interactive text.

Programming the Finch 2 Robot

Learn how to program Finch 2.0 robots with Tom Lauwers, the founder of Birdbrain Technologies.

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Programming the micro:bit with MakeCode

Microsoft’s MakeCode editor is the perfect way to start programming and get creating with the BBC micro:bit. The color-coded blocks are familiar to anyone who’s previously used Scratch, and yet powerful enough to access all the features of this tiny computer. You can use the radio feature to send and receive messages with other micro:bits. You can also switch to JavaScript to see the text-based code behind the blocks.

Remote programming of Hummingbird robots

Learn how to program Hummingbird robots remotely with Tom Lauwers, the founder of Birdbrain Technologies. For information on how to connect to the remote robot go to https://www.birdbraintechnologies.com/remote-robots/hummingbird-robots-on-zoom/

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Scratch: Extensions

Scratch extensions are collections of blocks that are added to a Scratch project to allow particular kinds of projects. These include text to speech, translation, video sensing, music, drawing, and other capabilities.

Scratch: Game Design

Learn how to create interactive games in Scratch. Add variables to keep score or set a timer.

Scratch: Getting Started

With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations with drag and drop visual coding blocks. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

Scratch: Next Steps

Now that you've been introduced to the Scratch environment we will look at different ways sprites can interact with the environment and each other.

Scratch Jr: Introduction

With ScratchJr, young children (ages 5-7) can program their own interactive stories and games. In the process, they learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer.

Scratch: Quizzes, Conversations and Madlibs

Learn how to create interactive conversations, quizzes and madlibs using Scratch variables and lists.

Scratch: Stories

Develop stories that move from one scene to another. Learn how to manage when sprites appear, how to change backdrops and how to make scripts run automatically.

Snap!: Introduction

Snap! is an extended reimplementation of Scratch that allows you to Build Your Own Blocks. It also features first class lists, first class procedures, first class sprites, first class costumes, first class sounds, and first class continuations. These added capabilities make it suitable for a serious introduction to computer science for high school or college students.

Strategies for Remote Teaching and Learning

Learn tips, tricks and tools for teaching Physical Computing and Robotics remotely.

Turtle Art - The art of programming, the programming of art

Learn TurtleArt from the masters, Artemis Papert and Brian Silverman, using their browser-based platform, using blocks to code.

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Turtle Geometry

Explore mathematical properties visually via a simple programming language to maneuver the icon of a turtle trailing lines across a personal computer display.

Turtle Stitch

Code, draw, stitch! Learn how to use Snap! to generate patterns for embroidery machines.

Twenty Things to Do with a Computer, 50 years later

The paper Twenty things to do with a computer was written by Seymour Papert and Cynthia Solomon almost 50 years ago. At that time computers were big, expensive and out of reach for most people. Cynthia and Seymour decided to speculate about what could be done with computers if they became commonplace. This session will review those forward looking suggestions and discuss how they sound now with the full knowledge of hindsight.

Cynthia Solomon and Brian Silverman revisit 20 Things to do with a Computer, first published in 1971 (Papert, Seymour and Solomon, Cynthia.)

About Cynthia Solomom

My focus has been on creating enjoyable, personally expressive, and aesthetically pleasing learning environments for children. I collaborated with Seymour Papert on developing Logo, the first programming language designed for children. I have continued creating and advocating for computer-based projects and ways for young people to design their own projects. Long ago, Papert and I described a collection of such projects in “Twenty Things to do with a Computer”. Recently, with Xiao Xiao, I co-edited a book, Inventive Minds: Marvin Minsky on Education that collects and contextualizes Minsky's essays on computers and children. The collection is available from the MIT Press in book form, and is also now freely available online: https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/4519/Inventive-MindsMarvin-Minsky-on-Education. In 2020 I co-authored a "History of Logo" for the ACM History of Programming Languages Symposium. It too is freely available online: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3386329. Currently I am exploring Logo’s turtle geometry through TurtleStitch and hands-on embroidery machines.