May 29, 2012
Many thanks to Scott Traylor for finding, scanning and sharing this gem from the Boston Globe of 5th graders interviewing Dr. Papert. (PDF) Boston_Globe_Fun_Pages_Seymour Papert_Interview Nov 13, 1994
Many thanks to Scott Traylor for finding, scanning and sharing this gem from the Boston Globe of 5th graders interviewing Dr. Papert. (PDF) Boston_Globe_Fun_Pages_Seymour Papert_Interview Nov 13, 1994
“Skeptics of the possibility of change in schools often recall that it is now a hundred years since the American philosopher and educator John Dewey wrote his persuasive books criticizing the way schools teach and proposing the new methods that became known as progressive education. Nobody has refuted Dewey or proved him wrong-in fact nobody
“On the Cost of Computation in Schools A final word about the cost of doing all this. Turtles. music boxes. computer controlled motors and the like are less expensive than teletypes. Displays are slightly more expensive but becoming rapidly cheaper. So if. computers are being used in a school, there is no good economic argument
“Everyone knows computers help children learn. But I was coming to understand that most parents will do better at sharing and enhancing their children’s learning if they take a hard look at their own learning’. Many need to work at their learning habits; most, even those who are adept at using computers should learn new
“Demoting reading from its privileged position in the school curriculum is only one of many consequences of Knowledge Machines. A child who has grown up with the freedom to explore provided by such machines will not sit quietly through the standard curriculum dished out in most schools today. Already, children are made increasingly restive by
“Building and playing with castles of sand, families of dolls, houses of Lego, and collections of cards provide images of activities which are well rooted in contemporary cultures and which plausibly enter into learning processes that go beyond specific narrow skills. I do not believe that anyone fully understands what gives these activities their quality
Last week, The Daily Papert published texts and speeches by Seymour Papert that never been publicly available. One of the entries is a transcript of Papert’s last public speech. Other “rare discoveries” will be shared in the future as time and finances allow. If you have such media, please share it via The Daily Papert.
Rare Discoveries Week 1 Recap Read More »
“I shall describe learning paths that have led hundreds of children to becoming quite sophisticated programmers. Once programming is seen in the proper perspective, there is nothing very surprising about the fact that this should happen. Programming a computer means nothing more or less than communicating to it in a language that it and the
“So I think the number one task has to be to really create spearheads, nuclei of change where we can really demonstrate that something really different can be done – something not improvement, but radically different.” Papert, S. (2000) Keynote Address at CUE Conference. Palm Springs, CA. In May 2000, Seymour Papert delivered a barn-burner
May 10, 2012 (Rare Discoveries Week) Read More »
“…for example, Larry Cuban, the hypercritic, the king of the criticism of computers – recently, and again, in an interview with the New York Times says, ~”Well, we didn’t ask for the kids to have these computers! But you’re fundamentally mistaken if you think it will change education.”~ Why? Well, he goes on to say
May 9, 2012 (Rare Discoveries Week) Read More »