Primary school students using Primary school students using
MicroWorlds: Turtles, multimedia and learning.
Anthony Jones
Institute for Education
La Trobe University
Vic., 3086 Australia
T.Jones@latrobe.edu.au
Abstract
Logo based software such as MicroWorlds is used in primary schools to achieve a range of education
goals. The activities described in this paper demonstrate how curriculum goals in mathematics and
SOSE can be realised through the use of both Logo programming and multimedia by students.
Although the technological skills students acquire are important, the focus is always on the curriculum
content being learned through the use of technology.
Keywords: primary education, across the curriculum, MicroWorlds
1. Introduction
As schools acquire increasing amounts of computer-related technology, teachers are faced with many
decisions about what software is best for a particular task, and what will assist students to learn better. The
range and diversity of software available to schools has increased to such an extent that it is not possible for
teachers to properly evaluate even newly released software. Some schools have attempted to overcome the
problem of software selection by deliberately restricting the number of different types of software available to
students. This paper reports on how one school has experimented with using MicroWorlds at several grade
levels for activities such as drawing and painting, multimedia, making electronic presentations, as well as turtle
geometry.
The reasons for electing to use MicroWorlds were partly pragmatic and partly idealistic. The school had
already purchased a school-wide licence for MicroWorlds in anticipation of it being used within the
mathematics curriculum. Consequently the author was approached to assist teachers develop materials and
activities that would integrate the use of MicroWorlds throughout all levels of the school. In addition, a
number of teachers had attended short professional development sessions during which they had been
introduced to some possible uses of MicroWorlds by primary school teachers and students. These teachers had
returned to school and at a staff meeting had reported on what they considered the potential educational
advantages of a school-wide focus on using MicroWorlds.
Speakers at previous Eurologo conferences have reported on investigations into the use of Logo as a
multifaceted learning tool by primary school students. Triantafillou et al. (1997) discussed learning based
around computer-generated multimedia environments. At the same conference Gonzalez et al. (1997) reported
using Logo to teach mathematics to first grade children. This paper reports on an attempt to combine these two
approaches through the multimedia component of MicroWorlds. In addition, the activities described rely on
ideas proposed by Harel &Papert (1991) and Harel (1991). These ideas relate to children developing learning
packages to teach curriculum content to other children
For four years teachers at an inner city primary school in Melbourne have been integrating Logo activities into
their curriculum. Recent activities involved students using cameras and scanners to incorporate digital images
into MicroWorlds software to create projects in mathematics and studies in society and the environment
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(SOSE). MicroWorlds is one of the first computer packages students in this school come into contact with, and
its use continues throughout all grade levels. Composite preparatory grade (5 year olds) and grade 1
(6-year-olds) classes commence organised learning activities using MicroWorlds in the second half of the
school year. While the majority of these preparatory and grade 1 children know the English alphabet and can
recognise the letters, most struggle to locate letters on a computer keyboard. In an effort to reduce the amount
of typing required of the children, procedures are written to enable a single key press to move or rotate the
turtle.
Computers have become common place in Australian primary schools, but the ratio of students per computer
remains high. Shears (1996) surveyed a representative sample of nearly 200 schools throughout the state
Victoria. Primary schools that participated in this survey had an average of 18 students per computer used for
teaching. This compares unfavourably with the ratio of 8:1 for secondary schools in the survey. In the three
years since this survey was published many schools have reduced this ratio, with some achieving 1 computer
for teaching purposes to every 4 students in the school. The school involved in the project described in this
paper has three desktop computers per classroom [approximately 27 students per class] and a room containing
15 desktop computers. In this school there is one computer for teaching purposes for every six students.
As well as having a high ratio of students to computers, many primary schools also have computers that are
virtually obsolete. While the majority of primary classes have 1 or 2 computers in their room, often this
hardware and the associated software is more than five years old. Many primary schools still use numbers of
Apple IIe computers, together with more recent Macintosh or Windows machines. The school in this project
has older Macintosh and I-Mac computers in classrooms and new I-Mac computers in the computer room.
2 Why multimedia?
Traditionally education has been a very linear process, often evidenced by scope and sequence charts displayed
in curriculum documents and textbooks. As educators at the commencement of the twenty-first century we
understand and accept that there is not just a single path between the cognitive stage a learner is at now and
where they might be following the acquisition of new knowledge. Technology enables and encourages both
teachers and students to explore a variety of differently sequenced paths.
Among the types of media commonly used in teaching are text, sound, still graphics, and moving graphics.
Multimedia is a term usually applied to computer programs that employ several of these types of media. While
most multimedia programs use text, it is used much less than in traditional styles of teaching.
Multimedia software can be categorised as being predominantly one of the following:
 An information resource tool that provides learners with access to electronic forms of information.
Encyclopaedias, databases, expert systems, and the Internet are examples of software in this category.
 An authoring tool that enables students to manipulate, process, and present information. Programs for
drawing, painting, word processing, publishing, and presenting are included in this category.
 Tools with which learners can construct knowledge and meaning through exploration and problem
solving. Simulations and microworlds exemplify this category.
In many primary schools, teachers at each grade level design their teaching activities to fit into an overall
theme. Each theme might last for one term, and teachers aim to integrate as much of the curriculum as possible
into the theme. Themes used over the past two years include “local heritage”, aboriginal culture” and
“communications”. The school also planned themes on a school-wide basis so that students came into contact
with a wide variety of themes over the seven years of primary schooling.
The school involved in this project has a network of Macintosh computers. Children from grades 2 to 6 have
become very adept at connecting to the appropriate server in order to retrieve and save their work. Depending
on grade level, the school has up to four desktop computers in each, as well as 15 computers in one section of
the library. In general all classes are composite grades, that is they contain students from two or more grade
levels.
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3 MicroWorlds and curriculum learning outcomes
Studies of Society and the Environment (SOSE) is a curriculum area that brings together subject areas such as
history, geography and sociology. The relevant SOSE curriculum document suggests activities for students
that include making time-lines, exploring cultural heritage in the vicinity of the school, and investigating how
members of the local community communicate with each other and with people outside the community. It is
possible to integrate many mathematically related activities into SOSE topics.
As part of a theme on local history and heritage, grade 4 students were taken on a walk that included visits to a
number of historical sites and buildings not far from the school. Cameras, both digital and film, were used to
record images that children thought were of sufficient importance to be included in a MicroWorlds multimedia
project they would complete back at school. For this project it was decided that every group would use a
scanned map of the area around the school as a background for the title page.
Some groups used the map simply to mark the location of sites or buildings mentioned in their project. Other
groups were more adventurous and programmed figures from the shapes page of MicroWorlds to move to
particular locations on the map and then to automatically open a page containing information about what they
had observed at that location.
Students in a composite grade 5-6 developed a dynamic time-line in MicroWorlds as part of a theme on
Australian history. The original design brief given to students was for a multi-page MicroWorlds project that
included a time-line on the first page, with electronic links from events marked on the time-line to other pages.
During the time students working in groups of 3 or 4 were developing this project, one group came up with the
concept of an automated presentation. With help from the author they produced a time-line with four historical
events in Australian history marked on it. A shape, a sailing ship from the shapes page, moved along the
time-line and when it reached one of the marked events it automatically opened up the appropriate page
containing information about the event. When the user had finished looking at the page they had a choice of
quitting or continuing. When the choice was to continue they were taken back to the first page and the ship
continued to move along the time-line to the next event. As happens so often when classes use Logo, these
children shared their ideas, findings and procedures with the rest of the class, with the result that eventually
most groups developed some form of dynamic time-line for their project. All groups produced a multi-page
MicroWorlds project with buttons linking pages.
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Table 1: Sample statements from Mathematics curriculum (Board of Studies, 2000)
Grade levels
Curriculum focus
Learning outcome
Grades 1 & 2
2.3

Construct recognisable
representations of shapes seen or
described.
draw rectangles (including squares), triangles,
rhombuses (diamonds) and hexagons freehand
and with a ruler

use a computer drawing package to construct,
copy and combine simple shapes
3.6

predict and then test whether shapes are
congruent (e.g. one part of a visual design
compared to another part)
Grades 3 & 4
MASPS203
MASPS306
Copy and create simple patterns
involving translating, rotating
 use multiple copies of a shape to decide if it will
and reflecting multiple copies
or will not tessellate
of a shape and informally
 use simple drawing equipment or a computer
describe the transformations
drawing package to construct, copy and combine
used.
simple shapes including the use of flips and
rotations
3.7
4.3
draw and explain lines of symmetry on regular
two-dimensional shapes

use a computer drawing package to complete
designs with lines of symmetry

find paths on simple maps and mazes (for
example, computer generated mazes).
MASPS307
Identify symmetry in regular
two-dimensional shapes.
Grades 5 & 6

MASPL403
Visualise and find paths to satisfy
specifications on maps, grids and
mazes.
In addition to integrating mathematical activities into SOSE or science themes, there are many mathematics
learning outcomes that can be approached through MicroWorlds. The first step is for children to become
confident users of the basic commands of Turtle Geometry. Then they are introduced to the concept of
producing an electronic project with MicroWorlds. With grades 3 and 4 the first mathematics project consisted
of three pages - a title page and two pages that contained patterns constructed from common polygons. The
children were also expected to write some comments about their pattern in a text box. In some cases the
comments related to mathematical concepts such as symmetry, and in other cases to the perceived aesthetics of
the pattern.
Children from grades 5 and 6 also designed and produced a project on the theme of mathematical shapes.
Their projects focussed on applications or occurrences of mathematical shapes in the world outside the school
building. Topics for projects included tessellations, shapes in nature, and triangles based on scaffolding
around a building being renovated. The children had previously imported images from a digital camera into a
word processing program and a multimedia program. When they learned that images could also be imported
into MicroWorlds, several groups included relevant camera images in their project.
There are many instances in the Mathematics curriculum where computer use is either specified or strongly
implied. Examples can be found in the Chance and Data, Space, and Number strands at all grade levels from 2
to 10. Examples of Logo related learning outcomes and curriculum foci from the Mathematics curriculum at
different grade levels are given in Table 1.
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4. Classroom implementation
Based on the first of the learning outcomes listed above in Table 1, children can use MicroWorlds, or any
drawing software package, to produce a collection of different shapes. There is little of mathematical value if
the teacher leaves this activity at the drawing stage. It is critical that the mathematical concepts students have
been using while generating their shapes are made explicit, and explained and defined whenever necessary.
Learners can be asked to describe their shapes, and be guided by the teacher to focus on mathematical
properties. For example, if students claim to have drawn a rectangle, they can be asked to give mathematical
reasons why the shape is not a square or a triangle.
Using MicroWorlds or the “autoshapes” component of MS Word, students can be guided through the four
stages in the “technology process” as defined in the Technology curriculum (Board of Studies, 2000). The four
stages - investigation, design, production, evaluation – are both conceptualised and practised as being cyclic or
inter-connected rather than as being linear.
A typical task set for students might be to find out which straight-sided shapes can be drawn using the given
software, to use these shapes to sketch the design for a pattern or representation [for example of a house], and
then to produce an electronic copy of the pattern on a computer.
Again the teacher should question students at all stages of the process. There are several different models for
questioning that teachers might follow. In recent years teachers in Australian schools have returned to
Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom, 1956) and Gardner’s (1993) multiple intelligences as preferred models. The work
of both Bloom and Gardner can assist teachers to ask questions and set tasks that cognitively challenge
students. Even relatively young students can be challenged to respond to “Why is this shape a square?” rather
than “Show me a square you have drawn.”
At a different level, a composite grade 5 and 6 used MicroWorlds to explore mathematical properties of
squares and rectangles. Links were established between sections of Logo procedures used to produce a shape
and mathematical properties of that shape. For example, squares were drawn using a structure that repeated
four times move forward a set distance then turn ninety degrees. This produced a different shape, and
consequently some different mathematical properties, to a structure that repeated twice the steps move forward
first distance then turn ninety degrees then move forward second distance and finally turn ninety degrees in the
same direction as the previous turn. Leron (1987) has succinctly explored and discussed these and other links
between mathematical properties and Logo programming.
Tessellations and tiling offer further opportunities to use MicroWorlds to integrate mathematics with other
curriculum areas. The initial motivation could be common bathroom tiles or some of the beautiful Islamic
tiling patterns that are readily available in books, posters, and on the web. Children create multimedia projects
by designing their own tiles and comparing them with examples from real life which can imported into
MicroWorlds as sketches or photographs. As an extension activity students explore the wonderful world of
Mauris Escher and his concept of changing or metamorphosing tessellations.
5 Sample design briefs involving multimedia
At the end of this paper are some sample MicroWorlds design briefs or worksheets. For teachers the concept
of design briefs comes from the Technology curriculum document (Board of Studies, 2000). As part of the
process of teaching technology teachers are encouraged to develop design briefs to clarify for students the
nature of the task set and ways of knowing when they have succeeded. The design briefs included have been
prepared for teacher professional development courses, but all the activities have been tried by several hundred
students in several Victorian schools. The first page is for learners and the second for teachers.
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6 Concluding remarks
School education in 2001 encompasses significantly more than the traditional reading, writing and arithmetic.
These traditional or basic areas of study have not lost their importance, although they are sometimes taken for
granted in affluent, developed societies. The introduction and integration of learning technologies into schools
has diversified both the process and practice of becoming literate and numerate.
In today’s schools teachers and students have access to computer software that enables learners to construct
educational projects at almost level of sophistication and in any subject area. MicroWorlds and other software
packages that bring together Logo concepts and multimedia offer a superb opportunity for learners to
experience a different embodiment of the content they are learning. Such software allows the mode and
procedure of learning to be of the new century even when the content is not.
7 References
Bloom B (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Longman, London.
Board of Studies (2000) Curriculum and Standards Framework II Mathematics Board of Studies, Carlton Vic.
Board of Studies (2000) Curriculum and Standards Framework II Technology Board of Studies, Carlton Vic.
Gardner H (1993) Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice, Basic Books, New York.
Gonzalez G Kriscautzky M and Martinez P (1997) Logo: A mathematical message in Turcsanyi-Szabo (ed) Learning and
Exploring with Logo, Proceedings of the Sixth European Logo Conference Budapest, 122-127.
Harel I (1991) Children as Designers: Interdisciplinary Constructions for Learning and Knowing Mathematics in a
Computer-rich School Ablex Publishing, Norwood.
Harel I and Papert S (1991) (eds) Constructionism Ablex Publishing, Norwood.
Leron, U. (1987) On the mathematical nature of turtle programming. Logo Exchange, 5(9), 13-15.
Shears L (1996) Computers and Schools, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne Vic.
Triantafillou S Pixton J Kallenbach K Kallas I Turcsanyine M Pintelas P and Nikolova I (1997) MATCh: A multimedia
authoring environment for children in Turcsanyi-Szabo (ed) Learning and Exploring with Logo, Proceedings of the Sixth
European Logo Conference Budapest, 80-84.
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Appendix 1: Sample mathematics design brief
random probability with a bias
Design brief
Use MicroWorlds shapes to design a race. Instead of you deciding who will win the race use random commands in your
procedure so that the winner is decided randomly.
Some issues that might arise include:
 creating a starting line
 setting all shapes so they are at the starting line
 starting all shapes at the same time
 having a finishing line or point
 announcing the winner
Clues
Normally a shape would be moved by using command such as fd 8 wait 1. To make this completely random use
something like fd random 10 wait random 3 for each shape.
One person should answer these questions for the group.
What was your plan for the race?
Did you achieve your plan?
What was the hardest thing you had to do for this project?
What was the easiest thing you had to do for this project?
What did you learn while completing this project?
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random probability with a bias
Teacher’s notes
Mathematics C&SF learning outcomes
Level Strand/substrand
3
Chance & data - chance
3
Chance & data - chance
Learning outcome
Use simple techniques for random selections
Design a simple [computer] device to produce a
specified order of probability
An extension activity is for the procedure developers to alter the probability of winning so that one event is more likely
than any other. For example in a race one shape could have and increased fd value or a decreased wait value. If a coin
toss or die roll is being simulated then the probability of one possible event occurring can be increased. Alterations to the
probabilities are made in secret so that the procedure can be run for students not in the development group to determine
which event is now most likely to occur.
Sample biased alteration for COIN procedure:
ifelse 1 = random 3 [pr “heads] [pr “tails]
This will cause tails to occur twice as often as heads. The procedure randomly selects 0 or 1 or 2, and calls it heads if a 1
is selected and tails if when ever a 0 or 2 is selected.
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