Cognitive and Social Change in Young Children during Logo Activities: A Study of Individual Differences

Abstract

The purpose of the thesis was to evaluate the response of young children who differ in the way they process information when they are placed in Logo environments. The evaluation entailed a preliminary review of the Logo computer language, of reflectivity/impulsivity within the metacognitive domain and of conservation abilities and spatial skills. The role played by computers, particularly when the Logo language was used, in the social interactions of their users was also examined and the focus for each of these was their characteristics in relation to young children. Finally a model for individual differences was selected for use in the study. ... The statistical evidence for significant differences between the Logo and non-Logo groups was strong. The children in the Logo group changed quite dramatically in relation to reflectivity/impulsivity, with there being behavioural observations to support the statistical results that the children had become more reflective. On the other hand, their non-Logo peers had shifted towards higher levels of impulsivity, during the fifteen month period. Even some of the children who at the outset of the study were classified as reflective, had moved away from this. This can be logically accounted for by the age of the subjects, with six year olds being characterized by a style of impulsivity. This therefore makes the movement towards reflectivity by the Logo group, all the more impressive. ... The study also contributes in a unique way to the body of research because of the use of the model of individual differences as a referential framework, which permits a wider, yet more focussed interpretation of the statistical evidence.