ArtLogo is a text-based version of TurtleArt. These two apps are designed to enable you to create images while exploring geometry and programming. They are essentially two implementations of the same microworld. TurtleArt uses blocks programming, ArtLogo uses text programming. You will have different takeaways from this workshop depending on your prior experience.

• If you are familiar with TurtleArt, you will learn a different programming paradigm to create the kinds of images that you are familiar with.
• If you have worked with traditional versions of Logo, ArtLogo will be familiar. But you will see how the graphics capabilities have been greatly enhanced.

Working with TurtleArt and ArtLogo also offers a good starting point for a conversation about blocks vs. text programming, a topic that is frequently raised among educational technology teachers. Often the discussion is entangled with other issues about programming languages. For example, the differences between Scratch and Python go way beyond text and blocks. Since ArtLogo and TurtleArt are essentially versions of each other, the text/blocks issue may be highlighted.

Before the workshop:

No prior experience with TurtleArt or Logo is necessary for this workshop. You can look at these resources ahead of time:

• Get a sneak preview of ArtLogo at http://www.playfulinvention.com/artlogo/ with documentation at https://www.playfulinvention.com/artlogo-help/
• Here are some great TurtleArt books: https://www.blurb.com/user/artami. Scroll down, click on one of the book images and then Preview to get a look at what’s inside.
• The current version of TurtleArt is at https://www.playfulinvention.com/webturtleart/
• If you are not familiar with TurtleArt, please look at the Getting Started section of  http://turtleart.org/, step through the introductions, and look at the samples and snippets.
• A Logo Primer is a brief introduction to Turtle Geometry and the Logo programming language.
• An Introduction to Logo and Turtle Geometry is a a series of brief video clips in which Seymour Papert introduces Logo and Turtle Geometry. The clips are excerpts from Seymour Papert: On Logo.

About the workshop leaders:

• Artemis Papert is an artist creating art in both traditional, mainly acrylic and pastel, and digital media, using code as the medium. After a first career as a research biologist she retrained in the healing art of shiatsu. Her interest in dream and fairy tale interpretation led her to become a Jungian analyst. Artemis has led TurtleArt workshops for a wide variety of groups in many countries.


• Since the late 1970s, Brian Silverman has been involved in the invention of learning environments for children. His work includes dozens of LOGO versions, LogoWriter and MicroWorlds among them, Scratch, LEGO® robotics, TurtleArt, the PicoCricket, and the Phantom Fish Tank. Brian has been a Visiting Scientist at the MIT Media Lab, enjoys recreational math, and is a computer scientist and master tinkerer. He once even built a tic-tac-toe playing computer out of TinkerToys.