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Connecting theory and practice: Results from the teaching of Logo

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Abstract

This paper is concerned with pupils' learning of the concept of variable in the Logo programming environment and how this relates to teaching. Results from three research projects are described and compared in a discussion of how improvements in learning have been influenced by a refinement in teaching method. This refinement has been influenced, in part, by the theories of Vygotsky. Within this paper, details of the changes in teaching approach are described together with a discussion of the effects of these changes. The main conclusion drawn is that in mathematics education we need to make more explicit the underlying theories influencing our work, because these theories influence both the ways in which we work in the classroom and the ways in which we analyse our data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, WC1H 0AL, London

    Rosamund Sutherland

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  1. Rosamund Sutherland
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Additional information

I am grateful to Celia Hoyles and Harvey Mellar for their comments on an earlier version of this paper. And I would like to thank the Economic and Social Science Research Council for their support for Project AnA (Grant Number R000232132).

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Sutherland, R. Connecting theory and practice: Results from the teaching of Logo. Educ Stud Math 24, 95–113 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01273296

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