Intermediate Grades; *Learning IDENTIFIERS *LOGO Programming Language

The artifacts (instructional games) created by a class of fourth-grade students engaged in designing educational games are analyzed. To facilitate the analysis, these artifacts were compared with products created by students in a similar design context who were creating instructional software. In both situations, inner-city fourth graders were asked to create products in Logo to teach third graders about fractions. Of the 32 products created, 16 were instructional games. Evaluation of the development process indicated that both instructional and game designers improved their understandings of Logo and their own knowledge of fractions. Analysis of the project demonstrated that the given design task made a difference in terms of the product and process and in terms of the learning experience. Instructional software designers used Logo code to create fraction representations, but game designers usually preferred to use modified geometric shapes. Game designers tended to place the game in the foreground; software designers made fractions central. Game designers also preferred active manipulation and animated scenes. For these students, the openness of the design task varied according to the task specifications. (Contains 16 figures representing computer screens and 17 references.) (SLD) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. U S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office 04 Educa1.00a. Resew " ar