2021 Logo Summer Institute Sessions

Click the title of a session to go to the session description below.

There are also some descriptions of sessions from previous Logo Summer Institutes that are not on the schedule. right now, but can be added if there is interest.

*3D Fabrication at IDEAStudio

During this session, participants will go to the Houston Community College IDEAStudio. A tour will be given and students will have the option of utilizing a 3D Printer, Laser Cutter or the Industrial Stitching Machine for their projects. Participants will prepare their files ahead of time for use on the machines. Those that are virtual can send files and items can be sent after production. Click here for details.

*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.

*ArtLogo

Back in the 1960s, Logo was the first programming language designed for children. ArtLogo is a new implementation of Logo that runs in a browser. The Turtle is the same Turtle artist as in TurtleArt. This session will talk about text language programming, compare it and contrast to other blocks and text environments.

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

Learn how to take images programmed in TurtleArt or Lynx and convert them into 3D objects fabricated on a 3D printer or laser cutter. See this flowchart for an overview of 2D to 3D with TurtleArt.

*FinchBlox

FinchBlox is an app specifically designed for ages 5 and up to use with the Finch Robot! Users assemble blocks to code the Finch to move, light up, and make sounds.

*Finch: Intro

The Finch is a programmable robot that brings computer science to life by providing students from kindergarten to college a hands-on representation of their code.

*Finch Programming

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

click here for details

*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: Intro

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 Programming

The Hummingbird Robotics Kit is an easy-to-use, creative robotics tool which allows students to design, build, and program a personally meaningful robot out of any materials, with any device, in multiple programming languages.

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

Overview of LEGO Robotics kits for the classroom including WeDo, EV3 and Spike Prime.

*Logo in Space

A few years back we launched a tiny satellite. It was somewhat bigger than a coke can but not much. It got a ride into space on top of a former Soviet ballistic missile repurposed for science. The launch was made from the Dombarovsky Cosmodrome in Russia. This talk will tell the story of T-LogoQube, the first use of Logo in space for flight control. The satellite operated for about eight weeks and then mysteriously went missing. An eight week life span is considered successful by the standards of a student satellite project. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014AAS...22412223O/abstract

*Lynxcoding: Intro

Lynx is a cloud-based programming environment for learners to create sophisticated, interactive projects across the curriculum. This text-based language supports computational thinking for all.

Lynx was designed by a team that worked with the late Dr. Seymour Papert for decades and is therefore built upon a fifty year tradition of designing programming environments for learning.

Lynx is the child of MicroWorlds EX and entered the world in late 2019. Almost all the Logo primitives found in MicroWorlds are present in Lynx and you can import your MicroWorlds projects into Lynx.

Think of Lynx as the next step after block-based coding tools and the step before professional programming languages like Python.

Take Lynx for a free test drive at http://lynxcoding.club.

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*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.

*Mathematic Experiments in Turtle Geometry and Dynamics of Motion Microworlds

A microworld is a small, constrained learning environment designed for learning through exploration. The concept was powerfully developed by Seymour Papert in Mindstorms.

Bob Lawler, a colleague of mine and Seymour’s at the MIT Logo group in the 1970s, gave the most succinct definition: A microworld is a constrained learning environment that incorporates neat phenomena and powerful ideas.

A neat phenomenon is one that is interesting enough so that you will become engaged and want to keep exploring. A powerful idea, well, that’s an idea that helps you better understand something important about the world around you – an idea that you can use in other contexts.

Seymour Papert called Turtle Geometry a mathematics made for learning.

In this workshop we will explore two microworlds, one using a tiny turtle geometry program I call polystar, and another with a dynaturtle.

In the polystar microworld we will experiment – using trial and error -- making and testing predictions about the behavior of this little program, gather and compare data from different experiments until we can describe it completely and predict what it will do.

As we experiment with polystar we will encounter some classic geometric shapes, and potentially discover some intriguing connections between geometry and number theory. Above all we will gain some insights about the significance of 360 degrees.

A dynaturtle (short for dynamic turtle) does not move until a force is applied to it, and then it keeps moving possibly forever, unless other forces are applied to it. When you rotate a dynaturtle its motion does not change until another force is applied to it.

A dynaturtle’s behavior simulates Newton’s first law of motion, also called the law of inertia:

A body at rest will remain at rest unless it is acted on by a force. A body moving at a constant speed in a straight line will keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force.

We will explore the dynaturtle’s behavior with two very simple games. We will try to make the dynaturtle hit a target, and we will attempt to drive the dynaturtle around a circular racetrack.

Through playing the games, we will begin to develop intuitions about force and motion, and maybe even about vectors, as a way of describing forces and motions.

Before the workshop, please download and print these two documents:

https://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/services/pdf/dynaturtle.pdf

https://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/services/pdf/polystar.pdf

Dan Lynn Watt joined the MIT Logo Group in 1976 while on sabbatical leave from his job as a fifth grade teacher. He stayed five years, working with Seymour Papert, Hal Abelson, Andy diSessa and others, and never looked back. His 1983 book, Learning With Logo, sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide. He and Molly Lynn Watt created The Logo Institute, a graduate program for teachers (1984-1989) and the Logo Action Research Collaborative (1989-1992) funded by the National Science Foundation. They co-authored Teaching With Logo (1986), and between them published two more Logo books, and wrote dozens of articles about Logo and educational computing for computer magazines and education journals.

Dan earned a Ph.D. in. Engineering from Cornell University, although his entire professional career has been in education. Dan was a classroom teacher, a researcher, and curriculum developer from elementary through graduate school, primarily in mathematics, science and technology education. He was a Senior Scientist at Education Development Center in Massachusetts, where he worked primarily on math education and engineering education projects, and was principal investigator on a collaborative project investigating technology enhanced learning environments for elementary school geometry.

In addition to his books about learning and teaching with Logo, Dan is the author of History Lessons: A Memoir of Growing Up in an American Communist Family (2017).

*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 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.

*Python Overview

Python is a powerful way to introduce learners to text-based programming in many coding environments. We will preview use of the Python Turtle module for turtle graphics coding as well as Python for coding microcontrollers and robots, such as the Circuit Playground Express, Micro:bit, Finch 2, and Hummingbird. Participants can explore these environments further based on their needs and interests.

*Remote programming of Finch and Hummingbird robots

Learn how to program Finch and 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/

Also click here for more details

*Robo Expo

The Robo-Expo is an event for students of all ages, with a shared interest in robotics, to come together to pursue similar goals or express themselves uniquely. Participation in Robo Expo is open to schools, home school groups, clubs, and any children sponsored by an adult. Robo Expo exhibits are open to all robotics kits—NXT, EV3, VEX, Arduino, Wedo, Hummingbirds, and anything else. To learn more, read Robo Expo – A Soft Approach to Robotics Teaching and Learning

*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 Programming

Learn how to program a game with features including keyboard control of characters, keeping score, time keeping, gathering assets, changing levels, scrolling backgrounds, character movements subject to gravity, and a variety of neat tricks.

Karioki Crosby is a Columbia University Community Scholar, the Founder of Latimer Heights and the developer of the Harlem Maker Fair

*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 Jr: Intro

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

Learn a variety of techniques and strategies for creating animated stories in Scratch:

• getting the story to start at the beginning each time it is viewed

• moving from one scene to another

• making sure characters appear and disappear when they should and in the right place

• controlling the timing of actions

• using events to control the flow of the story

• and more...

*SETC Technology for Social Justice

The South End Technology Center’s (SETC) mission is to facilitate the use of emerging technologies in ways that encourage people to become innovators and producers, to tell their own stories, and to learn ways of creating just and humane communities. Our particular aim is to reach community members who are still largely excluded or underserved. Join Susan Klimczak, SETC's Education Organizer, for a discussion of the work at SETC to center the needs of Boston's South End community through learning, making, and sharing new technologies. UPDATE: Here is a copy of the slideshow Susan used in her presentation.

*Snap!: Intro

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.

click here for details

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.

*turtleSpaces

turtleSpaces is a full implementation of the Logo programming language (similar to Lynx) with the addition of a third dimension. Come along and learn how to build an airplane model, with a spinning propeller, and then fly it above a programmatically-generated landscape. Or how about a spaceship traveling through an asteroid field? A submarine exploring the sea? It's up to you.

In the first hour we'll explore 3D movement, and introduce the dozens of 3D shapes you can create in turtleSpaces. Then you will be free to create the model of your choice, which can be later exported in a format that can be 3D printed, should you so choose. In the second hour, we will animate our models, programmatically generate an environment and then move our model around inside that environment. You can record the animation and share it using YouTube!

Melody Ayres-Griffiths is the architect of turtleSpaces, and the creator of its example programs and tutorials. She learned Logo as a child in the early 1980s and is passionate about working to provide a similar experience of wonder and exploration to today's youth. She previously published technology history magazine Paleotronic and is currently developing a history-centric code camp for kids, Codernauts, with turtleSpaces as a central focus.

April Ayres-Griffiths is the developer of turtleSpaces; she holds a bachelor of computing from La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia and has worked for several of Australia's top companies, including National Australia Bank, Bendigo Bank and Sensis in software programming, support and training roles. April is a 'polyglot' coder - one who can easily pick up any programming language - and she believes that an exposure to multiple programming languages early in life is critical to the development of good coding skills later.

*Turtle Stitch

In this workshop, we will focus on building blocks (procedures) that allow you (and the young / young at heart people you learn and teach with) to play with polygons and spirals in TurtleStitch.

TurtleStitching is a mix of art, design and technology. It affords a rich area of exploration for beginners and experts. The struggle of thinking up a design, making it and productizing it provides an environment of ups and downs and ups, capturing what Seymour Papert referred to as hard fun, leading to a love and engagement for the activities.

Susan Klimczak has been the Education Organizer of the Learn 2 Teach, Teach 2 Learn STEAM maker education & jobs program for teens of color in Boston, MA for 20 years. She loves organizing maker activities that include social justice, high + low technology & art.

Cynthia Solomon’s focus has been on creating thoughtful, personally expressive, and aesthetically pleasing learning environments for children. Her collaboration with Seymour Papert resulted in Logo, the first programming language designed specifically for children. Her paper with Papert, “Twenty Things to do with a Computer” is a classic in the field. Recently she co-edited a book of education essays, Inventive Minds: Marvin Minsky on Education..

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.

*VEXcode VR

VEXcode VR lets you code a virtual robot using a block-based coding environment powered by Scratch Blocks. VEXcode VR is based on VEXcode, the same programming environment used for VEX 123, GO, IQ and V5 robots. The website is https://vr.vex.com/