“Some sectors of human activity such as medicine, transportation and communications were transformed beyond recognition during the twentieth century. Compared with such megachange the practices of school have been virtually static. There are in principle two diametrically opposed visions of the role of new technologies in education. In one vision the technology is a means […]
DON’T: get hung up monitoring your kids’ every mouse click DO: begin to share their joyful experience of discovery Papert, S. (1995) The Parent Trap. Time Magazine. November 13, 1995. p. 34.
“Well, first thing you have to do is to give up the idea of curriculum. Curriculum meaning you have to learn this on a given day. Replace it by a system where you learn this where you need it. So that means we’re going to put kids in a position where they’re going to use
“Piaget was not an educator and never enunciated rules about how to intervene in such situations. But his work strongly suggests that the automatic reaction of putting the child right may well be abusive. Practicing the art of making theories may be more valuable for children than achieving meteorological orthodoxy. And if their theories are
“My thesis could be summarized as: What the gears cannot do the computer might. The computer is the Proteus of machines. Its essence is its universality, its power to simulate. Because it can take on a thousand forms and can serve a thousand functions, it can appeal to a thousand tastes.” Papert, S. (1981). Mindstorms:
“The phrase, “technology and education” usually means inventing new gadgets to teach the same old stuff in a thinly disguised version of the same old way. Moreover, if the gadgets are computers, the same old teaching becomes incredibly more expensive and biased towards its dumbest parts, namely the kind of rote learning in which measurable
“NCTM [National Council of Teachers of Mathematics] has not yet understood the role of computers. NCTM still belongs to maybe the 20th century, if not long before. I think they call it totally wrong. I think that the reason why there is a conflict between creative thinking, and basic mathematics is that they try to
“The most powerful idea of all is the idea of powerful ideas.” Papert, S. (1981). Mindstorms: children, computers and powerful ideas. NY: Basic Books. Page 76. Buy Mindstorms