The Way of the Turtle: Python and the Turtle Library in Education

Abstract

New technologies have changed the way we live in the current century, generating impacts on the educational environment, which can be enhanced with new methodological possibilities in order to develop student learning. Thus, the objective is to discuss how the application of the teaching methodology proposed by the Logo language facilitates the teaching of programming and some mathematical fundamentals, even when aimed at those with little prior knowledge of this language. The study, which has a qualitative approach, was developed through interactions in the Python environment and its Turtle library, which allowed the execution of some programming commands to exemplify how this language is relevant to the teaching of programming and some mathematical notions. It was evident that this feat enables more constructive, interactive and meaningful learning, when compared to traditional forms of teaching, since the learning subject is encouraged to construct his own learning based on his mistakes, through an interactive relationship within the environment, providing meaningful learning. It is concluded that the programming language is an important mechanism for diversifying formal schooling, especially when it comes to teaching programming and mathematics.