Learning Adventure 6

Assignment:


Learning Adventure 6 - Quilting in MicroWorlds EX
MicroWorlds EX is a modern multimedia programming environment for learners built upon a version of Logo that allows for parallelism. Using MicroWorlds in this simple project will help bring "The Children's Machine" to life.
Video-based MicroWorlds EX tutorials will be online by mid-day Monday. I'm encoding them as I write this.
There should be manuals in PDF form that accompanied your MicroWorlds EX download. If not, let me know and I'll post them for you.
Also, there is contextual help, online vocabulary (under the help menu), tutorials, techniques and samples within the software.
Of course, you may also ask questions.
This should be a fun simple collaborative project with no threshold and ho ceiling that supports your reading of Papert.
As my colleague and friend Tom Lough signs all of his correspondence...

FD 100

Reaction:

Day One: playing around while grading Senior synthesis essays on Beowulf.
I downloaded Microwords today (actually I had a free copy from Gary’s Constructivist Consortium he put on this summer- lucky for me) and went through the tutorials of geometry. I was pretty diligent in following the step by step procedures and had lots of flashbacks to programming Mr. Bill this summer at Virt Camp. Through the tutorial I could make the box pretty easily but then I noticed I had problems figuring out the measurements across from corner ot corner (Hello- Geometry!) Here is where I started at and you can see it isn’t quite what I was hoping.
Forward 100
right 90
Forward 100
right 90
Forward 100
right 90
forward 100
right 45
right 90
forward 100
forward 25
forward10
forward 10
forward 10
right 135
forward 100

Day Two-Three:

After playing with Microworlds for most of the morning after coming home from church, I had problems initially getting Microworlds to work again on my computer. It seems that I was the problem. Iintially when I used Microworlds the first time, I just went in and played around with things. That worked fine, but then today I was going to get serious and really make something. I opened up the quilt button and nothing would work for me. After talking with Greg about it (thanks Greg), he told me to go back to where I originally played with the turtle.

After making the initial square patch to start with, I looked over the serious programming that Dan and others had put together. WOW I am surrounded by simply amazing people that can figure this stuff out. I just was interested in making more traditional patched and here were these outstanding quilts that others had put together. I guess I get to fall short of success in light of what others have done, but for me, I was happy just getting the turtle to move around and make old fashioned quilt shapes. I learned that all the manuals seem to do for me is give me some basic guidelines but I really do seem to learn better in groups. It reminded me of Virt Camp, Colby started me off with programming the block by showing me some basics in programming and then the manual added a little more information, but after that it was all on my own with some help when I would get stuck. I remember being up late that night and Erin and Brooke finally coming over to assist me seeing as how their Olympic sport was similar to mine.

My programming for this patch quilt is simple as I stated before. I am really impressed more so by those that are in this program. It seems with each adventure, someone really peaks at shows the rest of us the possibilities. I took away from this learning adventure a sense of playfulness and giving myself some time to enjoy the wonder I am surrounded with. In comparison to Situated Learning, I moved towards to apprenticeship side of learning watching other model for me expertise in areas I have yet to fully explore. I learned from those around me and am glad to be part of a program that is so much about the process rather than the product.
My program:

setc "red

repeat 4 [fd 100 rt 90]

setc "red
rt 45
fd 113
bk 113
setc" red
seth o
fd 100
rt 135
repeat
lt 90
fd71.7
lt 90
fd 71.7
seth o
end

Where I am struggling is getting it to repeat without me clicking to make it repeat. Also, I thought I programmed my turtle to return back to the start by programming in the right coordinates (If that is what you call it) but it doesn’t seem to exactly do what I want it to do. I feel like I am always saying that in these reflections. The other thing I am wondering is where do I save my patch to? And how do I save it? Do I just do this like a normal save?