“Many children who grow up in our cities are surrounded by the artifacts of science but have good reason to see them as belonging to “the others”; in many case they are perceived as belonging to the social enemy. Still other obstacles are more abstract, though ultimately of the same nature. Most branches of the […]
Thought of the Day from Seymour Papert Read More »
“Most writers emphasized using computers for games, entertainment, income tax, electronic mail, shopping, and banking. A few talked about the computer as a teaching machine. This book too poses the question of what will be done with personal computers, but in a very different way. I shall be talking about how computers may affect the
Today’s Word for Learning from Seymour Papert Read More »
“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
A Daily Dose of Inspiration from Seymour Papert Read More »
“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
February 29, 2020 – Happy Birthday Seymour! Read More »
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
February 29, 2020 – Happy Birthday Seymour! Read More »
“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
Seymour Papert on Logo Read More »
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
Papert Excerpt from MIT Media Lab Videodisc Read More »
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
The Conservation of Piaget: The Computer as Grist to the Constructivist Mill Read More »