A Case Study of Six Children Learning with Logo |
| |
| Authors: | N J Yelland |
| |
| Institution: | Centre for Applied Studies in Early Childhood , Queensland University of Technology , Australia |
| |
| Abstract: | This article describes an investigative pilot study that was carried out with six children (mean age 6 years and 8 months) who worked in one of three gender pairs (girl/girl, boy/boy and boy/girl) to solve tasks with the floor and screen versions of the Logo turtle. The study revealed that when young children work collaboratively in Logo tasks, there may be initial differences in performance, based on gender, whereby the performance of the girls is less economic in terms of the number of moves made and the time taken to task completion, and more accurate in relation to the number of errors made and their ability to reproduce specific items. It is suggested that the extent and nature of the differences will vary according to the task format and with experience in the domain. The study provides qualitative information about the strategies and interactions of young children in a novel problem‐solving context. As such, the study has important practical implications for the organisation of learning opportunities related to the use of computers in early childhood environments, since it highlights the need to describe performance in the context of the task used and over a reasonable period of time. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
