Terrapin Resources
Volume 7, Number 2
Holiday 2011

Hello William,

Welcome to the holiday issue of Turtle Talk,
the Logo newsletter from Terrapin Software.


Holiday Bundles Make Great Gifts
The Logo Starter Kit is one of Terrapin's holday bundles.

Terrapin has created product bundles for gift-giving during this holiday season. Each of the bundles contains carefully matched Terrapin products for students at different levels of the learning process.

Bundles include Terrapin products in different combinations for those just starting out to those who want to enhance and expand their skills. The youngest learners can get started with the Bee-Bot Early Learner Package while those new to Logo can get going with the Logo Starter Kit . More experienced Logo programmers can refine their skills with the Programming Pro Package . The Logo/Pro-Bot Combo Pack , available year-round, combines on-screen programming with real world robotics.

Terrapin holiday bundles offer a substantial discount to purchasing the products separately and are available for a limited time, so be sure to order soon!

Check out the Terrapin Holiday Bundles...

Austin College Uses Logo with Students of All Ages
Austin College Students use Logo with local schoolchildren

Terrapin Logo is a major component of the Psychology 355 course on cognition and learning at Austin College in Sherman, TX. This course, required for psychology majors and an option for pre-service teachers, matches Austin College students with schoolchildren at local schools for one-on-one Logo exploration. Austin College students spend at least 7 hours per semester with their young teammates working on Logo programming projects and observing the learning process in action.

According to Dr. Henry Gorman , Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Psychology Department, Logo is an excellent tool to illustrate the learning process. The open-ended nature of Logo allows his students to let their young partners explore on their own and observe how they discover, test, and build on their ideas and discoveries. He encourages his student to "loosen up, relax, and explore" with the schoolchildren. As he says "every new student of Logo discovers something and every old student of Logo discovers something new!"


Celebrate Computer Science Education Week
Computer Science Education Week 2011

Computer Science Education Week , established by Congress to to recognize the critical role of computing in today's society and the imperative to bolster computer science education at all levels, is celebrated Dec. 4-10 this year. During the week many events will be held to bolster computer science education and highlight the careers that studying computer science enables.

A strong foundation in computer science can lead to many interesting careers. Barry Walker, of Burlington, MA, notes in Logo Experiences on Terrapin's web site that "My love of programming definitely stems from the first time I made a virtual turtle move by typing FD 50. Logo was my introduction to loops, and logic, and opening my mind to an analytical way of thinking. It was my first step along the way to a very fulfilling career in software engineering."

Learning to create Logo projects is a great introduction to the fundamentals of computer science. The example procedures that come with Terrapin Logo are a great way to start and Logo Project Ideas submitted by Terrapin Logo users can provide inspiration. Terrapin's Logo Library provides plenty of instruction to get started. As Computer Science Education Week commemorates, knowledge of computer science fundamentals is helpful to anyone in this digital age and opens many further education and career opportunities.


In this issue
  • Holiday Bundles Make Great Gifts
  • Austin College Uses Logo with Students of All Ages
  • Celebrate Computer Science Education Week
  • Quick Links...

    Turtle Talk Archive

    Upgrade to Terrapin Logo v. 3

    FAQs

    Contact Terrapin


    Subscribe to CS Bits & Bytes
    In celebration of Computer Science Education Week, The National Science Foundation will rollout CS Bits & Bytes, a one-page biweekly newsletter highlighting innovative computer science research and emphasizing how computer science permeates and improves our lives. Anyone interested in computer science may sign up to receive the free newsletter.


    Metamo4ic Math Center near St. Louis, MO
    Congratulations to the Metamo4ic Math Center near St. Louis, MO on securing a new home to replace their previous building, destroyed by a tornado last spring. Contributions to help furnish it are happily accepted and all can help by voting for the Math Center in the Pepsi Refresh Project .


    TIOBE Programming Language Ranking

    Logo is the 18th most popular programming language in the TIOBE index and the most popular education language!




    phone: (800) 774 LOGO