A Microworld for Developing Learning Design Strategies

Abstract

This article describes a beginner's programming environment. It is similar to Turtle graphics in that it operates on a simple concrete domain, that of Darel, a robot. Darel can move around a simple world, trying to avoid running into walls as it goes about its tasks that involve picking up and putting down beepers and bricks. Central to the design of the environment is the use of predicates that define the state of Darel's world. These serve as statements of program goals, subgoals, and assumptions. The Darel environment was designed to encourage students to use the formulation of these predicates as a strategy to design algorithms.