This morning I learned that Dr. Seymour Papert died yesterday at his home in Blue Hill, Maine. Dr. Papert was a pioneer in the world of computers and children, the LOGO programming language, co-founder of the Artificial Intelligence lab (now CSAIL) and a founding faculty member of the MIT Media Lab. Papert has also been…
Apple, Inc. just confirmed Dr. Papert’s opening paragraph from Teaching Children Thinking. “The phrase “technology and education” usually means inventing new gadgets to teach the same old stuff in a thinly disguised version of the same old way. Moreover, if the gadgets are computers, the same old teaching becomes incredibly more expensive and biased towards…
“You realize how there’s no ceiling and how everyone is going to be able to contribute to everybody else’s learning no matter where they came from, when they got here or where they were at.” In this short (1:35) video reflection, Angela Jochum, an ICT Integration Coordinator at the Frankfurt International School, shares her experience at Constructing Modern Knowledge 2014.…
In February, a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Things interview with Joe Hudy was posted on the Make blog where he shares projects, experiences, tools and people that inspire him. In response to the tools he can’t live without question, Joey says “my calculator watch because I don’t know my multiplication and division tables.” This is…
Each time I read Papert’s essay about the gears of his childhood, I feel a little remorse for some of the more episodic moments I had growing up. Though that remorse fades as I realize that all is not lost and consider my “gears” more as seeds for later realization. When I was 9 or…
If you know me, you know I’m a big proponent for play for children. Even big children. While I agree with what is being said in the video, we can’t ignore the modern world we live in. What constitutes play with computers? Is it video games? According to Dr. Marilyn Benoit video games aren’t what…
Dale Dougherty: Making is learning. Remember John Dewey’s phrase “learn by doing.” It’s a hundred-year-old educational philosophy based on experiential learning that seems forgotten, if not forbidden, today. I see a huge opportunity to change the nature of our educational system. I’ve been a growing supporter of the Maker movement over the past couple of…
NYSCATE11 is just around the corner and I, along with the conference committee, anticipate another worthwhile conference. I’ve been to a number of conferences for various organizations (state, national and international) and this conference is always the most special. I’m not just saying that because I volunteer on the committee. There is something about…
