TEEM'16 - Track 1 Computational thinking in pre-university education Authors: Carlos Gonzalez-Sacristan, Carlos Garcia-Saura and Pablo Molins-Ruano

1. Phogo:
A low cost, engaging and modern proposal to
learn how to program
Carlos Gonzalez-Sacristan, Carlos Garcia-Saura, Pablo Molins-Ruano
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
pablo.molins@uam.es
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6. Learn to program?
Why bother?
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7. Phogo: Logo + Python
“Good artists copy, great artists steal”
Pablo Picasso
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9. Why Logo is great
• Logo is a great tool that provides large construction possibilities to
the student
• “Low threshold and no ceiling”
• Papert believed that students learn while consciously engaged in
constructing a public entity
• When something doesn't come out as expected, the Turtle is the one
making mistakes, not the student
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10. New possibilities
Some things have change since the 70’s
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11. What we have now
• Cheap and accessible electronics
• Arduino
• Python
• Domestic 3D printers
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12. Why change from Logo to Python?
• Logo lacks of a thriving community. Python's vast community of users
has advantages.
• Python has more real world applications and we believe this can
have an impact on the students' engagement.
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15. Why change from Logo to Python?
• Logo lacks of a thriving community. Python's vast community of users
has advantages.
• Python has more real world applications and we believe this can
have an impact on the students' engagement.
• With Python, nothing is lost. It’s still possible to have a modular,
extensible, interactive and flexible language, the main principles in
Logo design.
• “Low threshold and no ceiling”. With Python, the ceiling is even
higher.
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16. The Tortoise
Logo got the Turtle. We got a Tortoise.
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17. Phogo’s
Tortoise
(early prototype)
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18. $81
New version:
$30
Stay tuned.
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19. https://github.com/CRM-UAM/Phogo
All of the Phogo source code is released under the GNU General Public License
Version 3.
The rest of elements such as text, images or manuals are published under the CC
BY-SA 4.0 license terms.
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20. The library
Logo was based on Lisp. We use Python.
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21. What can the Tortoise do?
• forward(units=10)
• back(units=10)
• right(degrees=90)
• left(degrees=90)
• pen_up()
• pen_down()
• obstacle()
+ all Python
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22. Some examples
• Draw a square
from phogo import *
def square():
pen_down()
i = 1
while (i < 5):
right()
forward()
i = i + 1
• Maze solver
from phogo import *
def right-hand_rule():
if (obstacle() < 10):
left()
forward()
right-hand_rule()
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23. Let’s try it!
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24. Objectives
1. Understand that a computer executes the orders previously given
by a programmer.
2. Basic use of variables and pre-defined functions.
3. Understand flow control structures:
• Conditional jumps
• Deterministic loops
4. Grouping and reusing code by defining functions.
5. Realize that these notions are the backbone of every complex
software out there.
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25. Setting
• June 2016
• 19 students from 16 to 18 years old
• 12 of them with diverse physical or intellectual disabilities
• No one reported any previous programing knowledge
• Four programing teachers and some assistants (for example, sign
language interpreter)
• 90 minutes
• 7 robots. They were encouraged to work in pairs or groups
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26. From this…
from phogo import *
pen_down()
forward()
right()
forward()
right()
forward()
right()
forward()
right()
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27. …to this
from phogo import *
pen_down()
forward()
right()
forward()
right()
forward()
right()
forward()
right()
from phogo import *
def cuadrado():
pen_down()
veces=1
while veces <=4:
forward(6)
right()
veces = veces + 1
def círculo():
pen_down()
veces=1
while veces <= 18:
forward(1)
right(20)
veces=veces+1
círculo()
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32. Now, what? Future work
• New Tortoise. Version 2.
• Cheaper (from $80 to $30)
• Better movement (more precise)
• Bye Bluetooth. Hello WiFi.
• More possibilities (speakers, microphone, light sensor…)
• More workshops
• More data
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33. Phogo:
A low cost, engaging and modern proposal to
learn how to program
Carlos Gonzalez-Sacristan, Carlos Garcia-Saura, Pablo Molins-Ruano
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
pablo.molins@uam.es – https://github.com/CRM-UAM/Phogo
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