“My proud father suggested “being clever” as an explanation. But I was painfully aware that some people who could not understand the differential could easily do things I found much more difficult. Slowly I began to formulate what I still consider the fundamental fact about learning: Anything is easy if you can assimilate it to …
“In many schools today, the phrase “computer-aided instruction” means making the computer teach the child. One might say the computer is being used to program the child. In my vision, the child programs the computer and, in doing so, both acquires a sense of mastery over a piece of the most modern and powerful technology …
“When people claim that my vision of education does away with teachers, I get very upset. That turns on its head what I’ve been trying to say. Schools give teachers very little opportunity to teach. They spend most of their time brainwashing or forcing children to do rote activities nobody believes in. In the kind of learning environment I envision, teachers can really teach.” Greth, C. V. (2983). Seymour Papert on Education and Language. Atari Connection (Fall 1983), 22-25. Retrieved from https://ia801708.us.archive.org/9/items/Atari_Connection_Volume_3_Number_3_1983-09_Atari_US/Atari_Connection_Volume_3_Number_3_1983-09_Atari_US_text.pdf
Curator’s Note: Melody Ayres-Griffiths, Editor of Paleotronic Magazine, recently sent me a link to this obscure 1983 Seymour Papert interview found at the Internet Archive (full issue). The issue followed a predictable storyline from that era – debate Logo vs. BASIC. Another old friend of mine, Arthur Luhrmann, was setup in a virtual debate with …
“Connecting new knowledge to things you know and love, and things you think you can do, makes you feel good about it, makes you take it in in a form that is your own. By taking in knowledge in a form that feels to you as you, you change your feelings about yourself as well. …
This commercial video, produced around 1986, features Seymour Papert answering questions from teachers. This discussion explores many of Papert’s recurring themes of children, computers, and powerful ideas. Papert also interprets Piagetian theory for the assembled practitioners. Transcript Seymour Papert: Should we sit down? I think what I learned most from Piaget is that the …
The following excerpt of Seymour Papert speaking comes from a videodisc produced by the MIT Media Lab circa 1986-87. Transcript Seymour Papert: This is an attempt to make a sketch of what a school of the future might be like. Now, nobody really knows what the future will be like, but we know what it …
The Conservation of Piaget: The Computer as Grist to the Constructivist Mill is an overlooked academic paper written by Seymour Papert in 1988. It represents one of Dr. Papert’s few published works of psychology and clarifies some misconceptions of Piaget while introducing perspectives from women’s studies. Papert, S. (1988). The Conservation of Piaget: The Computer as …
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Here is a promotional video produced by the Father of Educational Computing and the Maker Movement, Dr. Seymour Papert, for the LEGO company circa 1987. It introduces learning through robotics construction and Logo programming in an inner-city Boston public school, The Hennigan School. Seymour Papert Introduces LEGO TC Logo from Gary Stager on Vimeo.
The MIT Media Lab is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Seymour Papert was one of the founders of the Media Lab and in this video created by LEGO, his influence on learning and technology for children. 30 years of collaboration towards empowering children to be creative thinkers from LEGO Foundation on Vimeo.