Among Dr. Seymour Papert’s vast contributions to knowledge, his framing of educational decision making through the lens of instructionism vs. constructionism may be the most profound, useful, and enduring. Any discussion, debate, controversy, or concern about education policy or decision about pedagogical approach is based on the personal stance of how you believe learning occurs. […]
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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.
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“The next issue, which was the one I really wanted to touch on, was what … Was about how those computers would be used, and how they could be used, centered around whether you would look for the use of the computer that automated teaching, in the spirit that people often still associate with the
The Lessons of Logo Teaching and Computers Magazine “The Magazine for Teachers of the 1990s” March/April 1990 – Volume 7, Number 5 Orlando, L. C. (1990). The Lessons of Logo. Teaching and Computing, 7(5), 20-25. Teaching and Computers Lessons of Logo 1990 searchable It was almost 25 years ago that Logo, the first programming language
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“When people claim that my vision of education does away with teachers, I get very upset. That turns on its head what I’ve been trying to say. Schools give teachers very little opportunity to teach. They spend most of their time brainwashing or forcing children to do rote activities nobody believes in. In the kind of learning environment I envision, teachers can really teach.” Greth, C. V. (2983). Seymour Papert on Education and Language. Atari Connection (Fall 1983), 22-25. Retrieved from https://ia801708.us.archive.org/9/items/Atari_Connection_Volume_3_Number_3_1983-09_Atari_US/Atari_Connection_Volume_3_Number_3_1983-09_Atari_US_text.pdf
February 29, 2020 – Happy Birthday Seymour! Read More »
Seymour Papert (early 200s): And by the way something that we’ve seen that’s incredibly encouraging is that there’s a lot of fear that computers can mean … teachers are afraid to give up control in their classroom. It’s really interesting, the schools that have already had these computers here. There’s none of that, not a
Curator’s Note: Thanks to the Internet Archive, I found this long-lost article by Dr. Papert written for the March 1981 issue Creative Computing magazine. (Creative Computing played a major role in my adolescent development as I learned to program through 7th-12th grade). Enjoy the first of many excerpts to be shared from this article. –
“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
“Culturally shared negative attitudes toward teachers are nour ished by personal experiences. As a rebellious child I saw teachers as the enemy. Then, with time, these feelings merged with a theoretical position which had the illogical consequence of further demonizing teachers by identifying them with the roles that School forced on them. I disliked School’s
“The role of the teacher is to become a co-learner. Eventually, teachers, that is to say, adults with experience of learning will join with children in learning new materials that neither of them has known in the past. And this is the best way to learn, to learn with somebody else who is already experienced.”