LEARNING PASCAL IN A SIXTH GRADE CLASSROOM: AFTER LOGO EXPERIENCES

The entire sixth grade class of the Exeter, Nebraska school system, eleven students, learned many aspects of LOGO and Turtle Graphics during their 1982/83 and 1983/84 school years. During the 1984/85 school year a monitored learning situation designed to determine the extent to which these students could learn to program in PASCAL was initiated. The students had six computers equipped with PASCAL and Turtle Graphics. During the course of the year the students had approximately 45 hours of hands-on experience with these computers and an equal amount of time for planning or to be instructed in PASCAL. Their progress was documented and is reported in detail along with a case study of each student including a summary of programming style and ability. All students learned to program in PASCAL. Results, as reported by an outside evaluator, show that these students programmed as well as or better than non-science college freshmen enrolled in a one-semester course in PASCAL. The case studies written by the classroom teacher, offer useful paradigms. Recommendations include: (1) Discussion of language modifications to increase student learning and increase the computer\u27s power as a tool with which to explore. (2) Curricular changes regarding a computer language continuum of LOGO followed by PASCAL. (3) Teaching suggestions for instruction in PASCAL. (4) Recommendations for future research