“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 […]
“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
“Logo is much like a natural language such as English. Baby talk allows the child an easy way to grab onto and use pieces of the language. But nowhere in the world is a language restricted to baby talk. The child continues to be immersed in the full richness of language as used by philosophers
“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
“There has been very litter interaction between the elementary curriculum reform movement and the conceptual, theoretical wings of computer science. We believe that by opening the dialogue we may be unleashing an intellectual force of great power; for education might the area of research and application needed for certain germinating ideas in the theory of
“In describing bricoleur programmers, we have made analogies to sculptors, cooks, and painters. Bricoleurs are also like writers who don’t use an outline but start with one idea, associate to another, and find a connection with a third. In the end, an essay “grown” through negotiation and association is not necessarily any less elegant or
“But insofar as it can be seen as an aspect of education, it is about something far more specific than constructivism in the usual sense of the word. The principle of getting things done, of making things — and of making them work – is important enough, and different enough from any prevalent ideas about
“Looking at the complex texture of LOGO development (of which I have mentioned only a sample of what already exists and barely a foretaste of what might come) provides a new perspective on the problem of deciding not only whether LOGO succeeded or failed, but whether all endeavors in the field have succeeded or failed.
“Plastic robots, arrows on screens, hyperactive sprites all belong to the same turtle family. They all obey the same commands. By getting to know these turtles the way they get to know a person, these children are learning to be mathematicians. This is Piaget’s real message to us – learning rooted in experience.” Papert, S.
“People often congratulate me for making such a good language for children. But they are wrong. Logo isn’t a “good language for children”–in fact, a language that was “good for children” in this limited sense would not be good for children. Children deserve a language that is good, period. Logo is only good for children