{"id":9741,"date":"2020-09-03T10:05:33","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T10:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citejournal.org\/\/\/"},"modified":"2020-12-16T11:52:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T11:52:00","slug":"integrating-language-arts-and-computational-thinking-a-reflection-on-the-importance-of-gossip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citejournal.org\/volume-20\/issue-3-20\/seminal-articles\/integrating-language-arts-and-computational-thinking-a-reflection-on-the-importance-of-gossip","title":{"rendered":"Integrating Language Arts and Computational Thinking: A Reflection on the Importance of Gossip"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Read the Goldenberg chapter and related articles:<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Cynthia Solomon, Seymour Papert went to Europe in the summer of 1966 and returned with the initial specifications for the computing language Logo (Personal Communication, 2018). Logo is notable as the first computing language designed specifically for children. Solomon and Papert collaborated with Wally Feurzeig to develop an initial implementation of the computing language, which they began testing with children in local schools the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the time, Papert was codirector of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the science of creating computer programs that can replicate the performance of humans. An important aspect of AI is interpretation of human language. Therefore, not surprisingly, an important aspect of Logo is its capability to process words and sentences. Feurzeig originated the name of the language, Logo, the Greek word for word<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Papert summarized this work in Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas,<\/em> published in 1980. Papert introduced the term \u201ccomputational thinking\u201d in Mindstorms<\/em>. He also described the use of Logo by middle school students to generate \u201ccomputer poetry.\u201d The students created syntactic structures that generated sentences in the process of exploring the way in which language works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like many others, I was influenced by the vision that Papert outlined in Mindstorms<\/em>. Texas Instruments donated 10 TI 99\/4 microcomputers with Logo that I used to offer an initial course, Teaching With Logo, at the University of Virginia in fall 1980. The TI microcomputer had a fraction of the power of today\u2019s personal computers. Programs were saved on audio cassette tapes. However, some of the features such as sprites foreshadowed similar features found in contemporary block programming languages such as Snap! and Scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A physics student, Tom Lough, took the course as an elective. Tom was so impressed by the potential of Logo that he entered the doctoral program as my advisee. He also founded and published the National <\/em>Logo Exchange<\/em> (NLX) newsletter. A colleague, Steve Tipps, and I supported Tom in this endeavor by serving as associate editors. In 1983 Tom proposed a national Logo conference. Seymour Papert learned about our plans and was kind enough to propose that we jointly sponsor the conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We flew to MIT to participate in the conference planning process and were excited to meet a number of the pioneers in Logo in person. Paul Goldenberg was one of those individuals. His work has continued to influence my work with Logo and with its successors such as Snap! and Scratch. He was a scientist at Bolt, Beranek, and Newman in the late 1970s, where he met Wally Feurzeig. He then served as director of the computer science department at Lincoln-Sudbury High School in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Goldenberg and Feurzeig published Exploring Language With <\/em>Logo <\/em>in 1987. This work has held a prominent place above my desk since its publication. Therefore, we are very pleased to be able to make its introductory chapter, \u201cGossip and Other Life Sentences \u2013 A Simple Grammar,\u201d available as a seminal work to readers of the CITE Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exploring Language With <\/em>Logo<\/em> explores the structure, function, and history of language using functions made possible by computers. It lies at the intersection of linguistic thinking and computational thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Goldenberg observes that for computers to be useful to students of language they must \u201cenable the expression of linguistic structures in a fairly natural way,\u201d noting that Logo (as its name implies) was designed with the needs of language manipulation in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the crucial elements in a computing language designed for this purpose is the ability to process lists of words. Logo is based on a language, LISP, developed to support work in artificial intelligence. In order for digital assistants like Siri and Alexa to respond to our commands, they must process the lists of words that comprise our sentences. The programming language LISP was designed for this purpose. LISP is an acronym that stands for a \u201cList Processing\u201d language. Logo builds on the foundation of LISP reconfigured with a notation that is more accessible to children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mitch Resnick studied with Papert in the 1980s, developing extended versions of Logo that controlled motors, gears, and sensors. This work led to today\u2019s LEGO Mindstorms robotics systems. Resnick subsequently became the Papert Professor of Learning Research at MIT. In that role, he developed a modern-day programming language, Scratch, that incorporated lessons learned from work with Logo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scratch incorporates graphical user interface elements that did not exist when Logo was conceived. A key goal was to make Scratch accessible to young children. By design, Scratch did not incorporate some of the more advanced features of Logo, such as recursion. Scratch proved to be successful and influential, with more than 50 million users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The educational programming language Snap! was subsequently developed at the University of California at Berkeley by Brian Harvey and Jens Moenig. The acknowledgements page for Snap! notes that it was inspired and influenced by Scratch. However, Snap! also includes advanced features not available in Scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gossip and Other Life Sentences: A Simple Grammar<\/a>
Reflections on \u201cExploring Language With Logo\u201d<\/a>
Exploring Language: The Journey from Logo to Snap!<\/a>
Commentary: Thoughts on \u201cExploring Language: The Journey from Logo to Snap!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nBackground<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Language and Computers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n