February 2011 - Scratch

This is a visual programming/control language for children written by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is a free download, with versions for Windows, Mac and several versions of Linux. Projects can be uploaded onto their website, to be shared by people across the world. It is both great fun and very educational. Strongly recommended.

Download here

April 2010: Logo

This programming language was devised in the late 1960's as an educational tool, to help children to develop their logical thinking. A long time has passed since then, but it is still used widely throughout education, as it helps pupils to think for themselves - if you download it, you should not help them beyond the most basic ideas. To get them started, there is a very brief guide to basic commands at the bottom of the page.

This term the Second Forms will be doing a lot of work with it; the First Forms will have an introduction, using basic shapes.

We use a free version called MSW Logo. Although Windows 7 isn't listed, it does work, and I have never seen it crash since we started using the program when I arrived in 1990!

It is a small file, and is freeware. Here is a download link. When you have that page, choose the setup kit.

To draw a square (note that fd & bk measurements are in pixels, rt & lt obviously in degrees):

fd 200
rt 90
fd 200
rt 90
fd 200
rt 90
fd 200
rt 90

A bit cumbersome, so here is a quicker way (note that the brackets must be square - next to the letter P):

repeat 4[fd 200 rt 90]