In 1999, Seymour Papert embarked on his last ambitious institutional research project when he created the constructionist, technology-rich, project-based, multi-aged Constructionist Learning Laboratory inside of Maine’s troubled prison for teens, The Maine Youth Center. Shortly after the start of the three year project, Papert outlined the Eight Big Ideas behind the Constructionist Learning Laboratory. Although non-exhaustive, this list does a good job of explaining constructionism to the general population.
Over eight days, each of the big ideas will be posted here at The Daily Papert.
“The first big idea is learning by doing. We all learn better when learning is part of doing something we find really interesting. We learn best of all when we use what we learn to make something we really want.”
Papert, S. (1999) “The Eight Big Ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Laboratory.” In Stager, G. An Investigation of Constructionism in the Maine Youth Center. Doctoral dissertation. The University of Melbourne. 2006.