Children benefit from this type of learning as it enables them to think about processes - what they are doing and why they are doing it. In lessons taught on control and modelling, it should be emphasised that the process of creating your product is more important than the finished product. This may ease the pressure of producing a perfected finished product, allowing children to explore more freely and confidently.
Control and modelling has strong cross-curricular links with Mathematics. Pupils will be dealing with angles when controlling an object to move right or left.
MSW LOGO
MSW Logo is a program that uses simple commands to move objects (often a screen turtle) on-screen. Commands such as forward, back and turn can be repeated with variations to produce complex and beautiful patterns.
Making complex patterns by programming a turtle may seem daunting to young children. However, MSW Logo makes doing this simple and fun, leaving children amazed at what they can accomplish through entering simple commands. This programme is particularly useful as it keeps a record of all of the commands you enter. If children are using this, they can see and refer back to the commands they have input.
We used our programming skills to practise controlling Unit the Robot.You can have a go yourself here! This is a helpful website which can be easily accessed by children at home as they do not have to download any software. Therefore, the learning is not restricted to just the classroom!
These useful websites give ideas on how MSW LOGO can be used in the classroom:
http://mckoss.com/logo/
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/ict/ict4.htm
https://sites.google.com/a/stjohnsapps.co.uk/ict-planning/control-logo-and-sensors-1
http://ideastoinspire.co.uk/presentations/ictcontrolandmodelling.htm?iframe=true&width=720&height=579
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