March 7, 2011 “School is a place where students learn largely by working on projects that come from their own interests — their own visions of a place where they want to be, a thing they want to make or a subject they want to explore. The contribution of technology is that it makes possible […]
March 11, 2011 – Weekly Digest Read More »
“Many children who have trouble understanding mathematics also have a hopelessly deficient model of what mathematical understanding is like. Particularly bad are models which expect understanding to come in a flash, all at once, ready made. This binary model is expressed by the fact that the child will admit the existence of only two states
“But there is a world of difference between what computers can do and what society will choose to do with them”. Papert, S. (1981) Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas. NY: Basic Books. Page 5. Quote contributed by Dr. Eleonora Badilla Saxe of the University of Costa Rica.
“For many children traditional school is a very dangerous place because you can be humiliated, embarrassed – scared of being found out that you don’t know how to do something. Whereas with the Turtle, you can play with it by yourself. It’s okay that you don’t understand it because you found out that you didn’t
Note: This is a future vision for education, not a report on the present… “School is a place where students learn largely by working on projects that come from their own interests — their own visions of a place where they want to be, a thing they want to make or a subject they want
“Teachers were once among the most respected members of their communities — often the most respected. This position is slipping as schools deteriorate and lose their social function. Some visions of the role of technology in education, for example, the image of the best teacher as a distant teacher, further undermine respect for teachers and
“I’m saying that it is inconceivable that school as we’ve known it will continue. Inconceivable. And the reason why it’s inconceivable is that little glimmer with my grandson who is used to finding knowledge when he wants to and can get it when he needs it, and can get in touch with other people and
“Incremental change can be self-defeating; it’s not a step on the way to the big change. A silly example: suppose that the inventor of the refrigerator found that the only way to persuade people to buy them would be to make a refrigerator that could drop the temperature by just one degree. Now that thing
“I think it’s an exaggeration, but that there’s a lot of truth in saying that when you go to school, the trauma is that you must stop learning and you must now accept being taught.” Seymour Papert in conversation with Paolo Friere in Brazil during the late 1980s. It was sponsored by Pontifícia Universidade Católica,
Papert’s Principle: “Some of the most crucial steps in mental growth are based not simply on acquiring new skills, but on acquiring new administrative ways to use what one already knows.” Minsky, M. (1988) The Society of Mind. NY: Touchstone. p.102. Read the original source of this quote online, here.