Thinking about LOGO 30 Years Later: Self-reflection, Participatory Design, and Parenting

Abstract

I was exposed to computers at a very young age. My recollection is that I was chosen to use the library’s one Apple II computer at age 7. I don’t remember what I did on it, but, I do know that sometime between then and age 9, I was shown Apple LOGO and given rudimentary lessons in programming. My school had a poster with a round robot and I learned that some children were able to program a robot in the same way that I was learning to control an on-screen ``Turtle’’. I’m not sure how far I progressed by the Spring of 1984, but it included drawing shapes and printing text.