Some Prerequisites for Teaching Thinking: Methodological issues in the Study of LOGO Programming

Various publications over the past several years have discussed the cognitive benefits of learning the programming language LOGO. This study represents an effort to experimentally evaluate the claims that learning LOGO can enhance children's general thinking skills. Two main points are made. The first is that much of the previous literature investigating the effects of LOGO is flawed due to failure to consider important methodological requirements. The importance of clearly defining training conditions, documenting programming mastery, and defining transfer measures (including underlying theoretical motivations and instrument reliabilities) is discussed, along with the consequences of failure to consider these issues. The second major point deals with the importance of considering the method of teaching LOGO and its effects on the development and transfer of general thinking skills from the LOGO environment to non-LOGO problems. A study attempting to meet the methodological concerns was designed to determ...

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