Logo Summer Institutes

The first Logo Summer Institute was held in 1980 at the New York Academy of Sciences as part of the Computers in Schools project. Teachers from six New York City public schools spent two weeks learning Logo in preparation for bringing it into their classrooms during the 1980-1981 schools year.

With the rapid expansion of computer use in schools in the 1980s, sponsorship of the Logo Summer Institutes was assumed by Logo Computer Systems (LCSI) the world’s leading developer of Logo software. The Logo Foundation, created in 1991, took over responsibility for the Logo Summer Institutes and has been running them ever since.

Often a school or district would host a Logo Summer Institute for their teachers, sometimes also including guests. The St. Paul, Minnesota Public Schools held Logo Summer Institutes annually from 1981 through 1999 for teachers in the St. Paul Logo Project. Other Logo Summer Institutes, such as those in New York City, include teachers from many schools.

Over the years, the technology used in schools has changed. In the 1980s computers were big, bulky and not portable. Software and hardware options were limited and there was no Internet. But the educational philosophy of the Logo Summer Institute has remained the same: individualized, project-based and constructionist.

The 2022 Logo Summer Institute took place July 25-29, 2022. For the third year, it was online. Although we missed the face-to-face interactions of the pre-pandemic Logo Summer Institutes we have adjusted well to the virtual format. We look forward to future in-person Logo Summer Institutes, possibly including some elements of the online approach.

Here's a 1993 paper by Logo Foundation President Michael Tempel about the Logo Summer Institutes:
https://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/resources/papers/pdf/institutes.pdf

This article appeared in 1997 in Logo Update, the Logo Foundation newsletter:
https://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/resources/logoupdate/Logo_Update_v5n3.pdf