Center for Technology and Teacher Education: Mathematics Activities

MicroWorlds (MW) is based on the logo computer language. Like a spoken language, it has a vocabulary and rules for using the vocabulary. This five-part activity introduces students to the basic commands of MW.

Mathematics: Students will use logo to draw regular polygons and other geometric shapes, create patterns, and use interior and exterior angles.

Mathematical Thinking: In this activity, students will analyze properties of geometric figures, make conjectures and explore the connections between logo code and the resultant geometric constructions.

Technology: Logo programming with MicroWorlds (MW), using the following logo commands fd, bk, clean, cg, lt, rt, pd, pu, ht, st. Use of variables will also be introduced.

The gray box (two lines of code are entered) in the following illustration denotes the command center.

Command	Action	Syntax Example
FD	Moves the turtle forward	FD 45 moves the turtle forward 45 turtle steps.
bk	Moves the turtle backward	bk 33 moves the turtle backward 33 turtle steps.
clean	Clears graphics without moving the turtle’s position.
cg	Clears the screen of all constructions; as well as, repositions the turtle in the center of the screen.
lt	Makes the turtle turn to the left.	lt 60 turns the turtle to the left 60°.
rt	Makes the turtle turn to the right.	rt 32 turns the turtle to the left 32°.
pd	Puts the turtle’s pen down so when the turtle moves its’ path is traced.
pu	Picks up the pen so no marks are left when the turtle moves
ht	Hides the turtle.
st	Shows the turtle.
repeat	Signifies how many times to repeat procedure in parentheses.	Repeat 4 [FD 46 rt 90] executes the command in brackets four times.
:	Denotes a variable.	:joe Joe is a variable name.