Cross-age tutoring and young children's spatial problem solving skills in a LOGO programming environment

Twenty-eight six to eight year old children enrolled in a summer enrichment program in a southeastern urban public elementary school were randomly assigned to three groups of tutors: (a) same-age (6-8 years of age); (b) near same-age (9-12 years of age); and (c) college age (18-21), to assess their ability to successfully complete three stages of Logo training (i.e., Logo positioning commands (Stage I), Direct Route Strategies (Stage II), and Indirect Route Strategies (Stage III). Twelve 30-minute training sessions were videotaped over a three week period to provide additional descriptive data. It was expected that all subjects would be able to complete all three stages of training in three weeks and that children who received tutoring from the college age students would be more efficient and proficient in solving the specially designed spatial problems. Data were analyzed for the amount of time taken to successfully complete a problem, number of errors, number and size of turtle steps, and number and size of angles selected