Statement of Ownership
Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation
(Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685). 1. Title of Publication: Learning
& Leading with Technology. 2. Publication No.: 1082-5754. 3.
Filing date: September 2, 2009. 4. Issue Frequency: Monthly
except for Bi-monthly December/ January, March/April, June/
July, and September/October. Number of Issues Published
Annually: 8. 6. Annual Subscription Price: $100.00. 7. Complete
Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication (Not Printer):
International Society for Technology in Education, 180 W 8th
Avenue Ste 300, Eugene, Lane, OR 97401-2916. 8. Complete
Mailing Address of the Headquarters of General Business Offices
of Publisher (Not Printer): for business name and address refer
to #7. 9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of the
Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor: Publisher—for business
name and address refer to #7; Editor—Kate Conley, for business
name and address refer to #7; Managing Editor—Paul Wurster,
for business name and address refer to #7. 10. Owner: Refer to
#7. 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security
Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount
of Bonds, Mortgages, or Other Securities: None. 12. The purpose,
function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt
status for Federal income tax purposes has not changed during
preceding 12 months. 13. Publication Name: Learning & Leading
with Technology. 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below:
June/July 2009 (Volume 36 Number 8). 15. Extent and Nature
of Circulation. Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding
12 Months. 15a. Total No. Copies (Net Press Run): 23,968. 15b.
Paid and/or Requested Circulation. 15b1. Paid/Requested
Outside-County Mail Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 (Include
advertiser’s proof and exchange copies): 21,552. 15b2. Paid In-County Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 (Include advertiser’s
proof and exchange copies): Zero. 15b3. Sales Through Dealers
and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS
Paid Distribution: Zero. 15b4. Other Classes Mailed Through
the USPS: 1,156. 15c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation
[Sum of 15b ( 1), ( 2), ( 3) and ( 4)]: 22,708. 15d. Free Distribution
by Mail (Samples, complimentary, and other free) 15d1. Outside-County as Stated on Form 3541: Zero. 15d2. In-County as Stated
on Form 3541: Zero. 15d3. Other Classes Mailed Through the
USPS: Zero. 15d4. Free Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or
other means): 50. 15e. Total Free Distribution (Sum of 15d): 50.
15f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c, and 15e): 22,758. 15g. Copies
not Distributed: 1,210. 15h. Total (Sum of 15f, and 15g): 23,968.
15i. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation (15c divided by 15f
times 100): 99.78%. Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published
Nearest to Filing Date. 15a. Total No. Copies (Net Press Run):
33,367. 15b1. Paid/Requested Outside-County Mail Subscriptions
Stated on Form 3541 (Include advertiser’s proof and exchange
copies): 31,395. 15b2. Paid In-County Subscriptions Stated on
Form 3541 (Include advertiser’s proof and exchange copies): Zero.
15b3. Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter
Sales, and Other Non-USPS Paid Distribution: Zero. 15b4. Other
classes Mailed Through the USPS: 1,087. 15c. Total Paid and/or
Requested Circulation [Sum of 15b ( 1), ( 2), ( 3) and ( 4)]: 32,482.
15d. Free Distribution by Mail (Samples, complimentary, and
other free) 15d1. Outside-County as Stated on Form 3541: Zero.
15d2. In-County as Stated on Form 3541: Zero. 15d3. Other
Classes Mailed Through the USPS: Zero. 15d4. Free Distribution
Outside the Mail (Carriers or other means): 45. 15f. Total Free
Distribution (Sum of 15d): 45. 15f. Total Distribution (Sum of
15c, and 15e): 32,527. 15g. Copies not Distributed: 840. 15h. Total
(Sum of 15f, and 15g): 33,367. 15i. Percent Paid and/or Requested
Circulation (15c divided by 15f times 100): 99.86%. 16. This
Statement of Ownership will be printed in the November 2009
(Volume 37, Number 3) issue of this publication. 17. Name and
Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner: Tiffany
Montes, Staff Accountant, International Society for Technology in
Education. Date: September 2, 2009. I certify that all information
on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who
furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who
omits material or information requested on the form may be
subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment)
and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).
Algorithmic Thinking
Simply put, an algorithm is a well-defined set of steps required to complete a task. It is essential to understanding how and why information
technology systems work as they do.
Detailed task breakdown is an
important aspect of algorithmic
thinking. In my robotics workshops,
I usually devote a session or two to
algorithmic thinking before I introduce students to programming. One
fun exercise involves writing a set
of detailed steps in plain English to
guide a blindfolded student partner to
perform a certain task. I often weave
ideas of exception handling, iterations,
and conditional actions into this exercise. Writing “pseudo code” in this
manner also helps expose students to
an essential skill that programmers
often employ when they embark on
a new program that requires them to
think through the algorithm before
they start to code the program.
Fortunately, we have access to programming environments that make it
easy for teachers to drive these ideas
home. For example, Alice ( www.alice.
org) is an excellent tool to support the
development of algorithmic thinking, as is Scratch from MIT Media
Lab ( scratch.mit.edu). The visual
feedback that students get from Alice
and Scratch allows them to relate the
program to the action they see on the
screen and helps them refine their
programs, an essential part of problem
solving and programming. Earlier environments such as LOGO also helped
achieve those goals in addition to allowing children to easily experiment
with ideas of repetition, functions and
subroutines, parameter passing, and
even recursion.
Algorithmic thinking helps students
make that step from problem to program. This involves being able to define and state a problem clearly; break
the problem into smaller, more manageable subproblems; and describe the
solution in a well-defined set of steps.
This is an important skill that students
can transfer to problem-solving situations in other subjects too.
Boolean Logic for Critical Thinking
Boolean logic (or Boolean algebra)
is a form of symbolic logic that is the
basis of the arithmetic of computers. George Boole’s pioneering work
in this field was published in the
book An Investigation of the Laws of
Thought, which describes how the
logic of human thought can be reduced to a few simple, general, logical
“operations” (much like the basic operations of mathematics).
Students can be introduced to
the idea of logic in language arts or
mathematics. Premises, conditional
sentences, denials, and drawing inferences from sets of everyday sentences
can form a soft introduction to the
idea of logic even before introducing
symbols and operations. Here is an
example:
If the Giants beat the Dodgers, then
the Giants win the pennant.
If he is out, then the Giants beat the
Dodgers.
He is out.
What is the conclusion?
The beauty of Boolean logic lies
in the simplicity of its operations:
and, or, and not. When I was first exposed to the ideas of symbolic logic,
I remember thinking that this was a
mighty useful way for people of any
age to learn how to think and argue
logically as well as to find fallacies not
only in political arguments but also in
day-to-day arguments with parents,
siblings, friends, and peers. This could
certainly be one way to teach children
to think critically and analytically.
Data Structures and Databases
Data structures go hand in hand with
algorithms as an essential aspect of
programming. Simply put, data is the
stuff that is manipulated or worked
on by operations and expressions in
28 Learning & Leading with Technology | November 2009
