John S. Murnane

The psychology of computer languages for introductory programming courses

Abstract Factors involved in the design of computer languages have evolved from largely practical to almost completely technical at the expense of the psychology of language acquisition and use. In particular the relationship of computing languages with natural language deserves far more prominence than it currently receives, especially languages designed for ab initio programming courses. This paper considers the type of programming language which would emerge under two opposing schools of thought: those of Noam Chomsky and Jean Piaget.

Models of recursion

Abstract Teachers using Logo need a set of models through which the concepts of recursion can be introduced. This paper gives a list of attributes a good recursive model should possess, together with examples of good and bad models.

Age, mobility and email

This research project investigated practical aspects of teaching older, retired people to use the Internet, with particular emphasis on email. The study was carried out in Melbourne, Australia. This paper deals with the justification for the research, its aims, objectives and mid‐term results. A small number of residents in retirement accommodation, aged 84‐97, have been tutored on a one‐to‐one basis to use email and other computer/Internet applications. Though several endemic hurdles have been experienced, the research shows the benefits of email and ways to overcome some of the problems.

What Did We Think We Were Doing

This paper reflects on some aspects of the introduction of computers into Australian schools and teacher education, with an emphasis on the state of Victoria. Developments in the U.K. and the U.S.A. have significantly influenced Australian educational computing, often being adopted with a local flavor. This is acknowledged here through the use of vignettes that illustrate local incidents, which are then related to occurrences in other Australian states as well as other countries.

The Creation and Maintenance of an Online Subject: Some Practical Factors

This paper discusses some of the practical factors associated with the creation and maintenance of a Website supporting an online, postgraduate, tertiary-level subject, created and maintained largely by a single lecturer. The size of two subject Websites are described, some factors effecting maintenance, possible problems in adapting teaching styles to a simple Web page format and problems that may arise when the lecture of a subject changes or a visiting lecturer participates.

Learning Along with Your Students: Projects from the Graduate Diploma of Computer Education

This Chapter deals with the early development of Computer Education for teachers in Victoria, Australia, through a set of Research and Development (R&D) Projects that formed a large part of a Graduate Diploma in Computer Education (GDCE) at Melbourne State College, later part of The University of Melbourne. The early years of the GDCE, coincident as they were with the advent of the microprocessor and the desktop computer, reflected and indeed influenced the development of Computer Education in Victorian schools. The Projects provide an informative insight into the teachers Professional Development in Information Technology, the state of educational computing, and the uses to which computers were being put in Victorian schools in the 1980s and early 90s.

The Educational Programming Language Logo: Its Nature and Its Use in Australia

Although Logo was expressly designed as a Mathematical language for use in Education its early versions were very logic-orientated. With the addition of Seymour Papert’s ‘turtle’ the system became far more accessible to students and teachers. This paper explores some of the educational ideas behind its development and describes its first use in schools in Australia through reminiscences by two of the co-authors, Sandra Wills and Anne McDougall. The paper concludes with a reflection that educational research has not been able to prove the educational benefits of a ground-breaking approach that empowered students with computers. However, many rich case studies of successful implementation by passionate teachers abound in the literature to provide inspiration to teachers working with the new digital natives.

And they were thinking? Basic, Logo, Personality and Pedagogy

This paper is concerned with some limited aspects of the history of two programming languages purpose-designed for students learning to program digital computers: Basic and Logo. The focus is the very different educational aims and philosophies of the originators of these languages. They are compared and their early use in schools sketched. While the reasons for teaching students to write programs were initially based on experience in programming digital computers for non-educational use, despite extensive research and publications, it would seem that the teacher of today is not in a much better position to justify teaching programming than the original pioneers.

Gearing up for Robotics

This naturalistic, qualitative research investigated the extent and depth to which the perceived embedded educational skills and concepts associated with gears in a robotics environment were realized. The research literature revealed a paucity and confusion of description and definition of gears, and a lack of articulation of the embedded skills associated with gears. Based on some seminal research papers, a novel skills grid was developed as a measuring instrument, against which deep mining of the knowledge progress of the understanding of gears of four teachers was observed. The analysis of results pertaining to considered gear integration in the construction of a robot revealed that learning does not occur serendipitously and, unless taught overtly, the opportunities for the learning of gear concepts are often missed or deliberately bypassed. This lack of desire to learn about, and consider gear integration in constructions, could be attributed to confusion of interpretation of a non-contextualised ratio, or more deeply, the confusion of ratio representation in rational number and colon formats.