computers in education Archives

New Book Honors the Legacy of Seymour Papert

1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Computers, Constructionism, Epistemology, Learning, Logo, Mathematics, Project-based learning, Robotics, School Reform, Science, Teaching / By gary

The book celebrates the 50th anniversary of a seminal paper by Cynthia Solomon and Seymour Papert. Published in 1971, Twenty Things to Do with a Computer, set the course of education for the next fifty years and beyond. I created the new book, Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50, to honor the vision set forth by Papert and Solomon a half-century ago. Four dozen experts from around the world invite us to consider the original provocations, reflect on their implementation, and chart a course for the future through personal recollections, learning stories, and imaginative scenarios.

October 18, 2021

2000s, Computers, Constructionism, Epistemology, Learning, Project-based learning, School Reform, Teaching / By gary

“Our school systems are being strangled by the cost of this curious epidemic of learning disability.” Seymour Papert From Papert, S., March 16, 2000. Millennial Lecture at the Muskie Archives.

Seymour Papert’s Opening of the London Knowledge Lab (2004)

2000s, Computers, Constructionism, Epistemology, Learning, Logo, Mathematics, School Reform, Teaching, video / By gary

Professor Seymour Papert was one of the invited speakers. Full video at https://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Play/3004 Video: Opening of the London Knowledge Lab “Thank you and I owe you a debt too and I think the world does. I think it’s a great thing that you’re doing here. I’d like to pick on just one aspect of it …

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April 22, 2014

1980s, Computers, School Reform, Teaching / By gary

“The central question for educators is whether schools of the future will go on teaching the same curriculum, using computers to do the job better, or whether we’ll see radical change in what is taught and what is learned in schools. In my address I shall suggest that the education system will not be able …

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April 3, 2014

1990s, Computers, Epistemology, Logo, Project-based learning, Teaching / By gary

“I have had a lot of flack from people who read this column (and other things I have written) as advocating taking the hard work and discipline out of learning. I don’t blame them. I am a critic of the ways in which traditional school forces kids to learn and most attempts to introduce a …

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April 2, 2014

1980s, Computers, Teaching / By gary

“The cost of making computers is falling rapidly. Today a very good educational computer could be manufactured for a thousand dollars. By the end of this decade a very very much more powerful computer will cost only a few hundred dollars. Thus the cost of supplying each child with a personal computer would be a …

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March 24, 2014

1980s, Computers, Learning, School Reform, Teaching / By gary

“An examination of computer use in schools today reveals that students’ interactions with computers are largely teacher-directed, workbook-oriented, for limited periods of time, and confined to learning about the machines themselves or about programming languages. Further, computers are located in separate labs and are not integrated into the standard curriculum. “Doing computer” in school is …

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March 6, 2014

2000s, Computers, Constructionism, Epistemology, Learning, Logo, Project-based learning, School Reform, Teaching / By gary

“I noticed that a lot of the discussion of computers was dominated by questions like, just to take one example, when they do Logo kids get confused about whether “turn” in Logo means turning this way or turning that way. Yes, they do – but that’s a consequence of it being an incidental, of spending …

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August 24, 2012

1990s, Computers, Constructionism, Epistemology, Learning, Logo, Project-based learning, School Reform, Teaching / By gary

“The word educology reminds us that we need a theory of education. One might say theories already exist. There is educational psychology; there is a theory of instruction; there are courses on the theory of how to administrate schools. But these are not theories of education as a whole. They are theories of small aspects …

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August 22, 2012

1990s, Computers, Constructionism, Learning, Project-based learning, School Reform, Teaching / By gary

“We need chutzpah to face down those people who say “ Hey who are we to say technology should dictate what children learn, that technology should dictate the curriculum. No! Technology should be the tool for implementing the curriculum. It’s other people who dictate it. Who do you think you are to say what children …

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