seymour-papert

list of people who have contributed to our understanding of learning through practical hands-on activities:

Bruner, Jerome

De Bono, Edward

Froebel, Friedrich
Gregory, Richard
Khanna, Sudarshan

Malaguzzi, Loris

Papert, Seymour
Reggio Emelia Atelier

Thring, M W

about
contact

how is making
thinking?

name

Seymour Papert b.1928

working life

1958 - 2006

essentials

Papert was a mathematician, computer scientist, and pioneer of artificial intelligence who created “Logo” as a simple programming code to improve the way children think and solve problems using a small mobile robot called the "Logo Turtle”. Very young children could discover how to make it move on a step-by-step learning process.

info

When Papert joined MIT in the USA he co-founded the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory with Marvin Minsk. Here they created the first version of Logo in 1967, designed as a tool for learning. It’s features, modularity, extensibility, interactivity, and flexibility, made programming language accessible to all - not just mathematicians, and inspired teachers all over the world.

The publication of Seymour Papert's book ‘Mindstorms’ excited people with the intellectual and creative potential of Logo which fuelled the Logo boom of the early 1980s. The Logo Turtle soon migrated to the computer graphics screen where it is used to draw shapes, designs, and pictures. Creating elaborate animations and games suddenly became possible by computer novices, including young children.

Before coming to MIT, Papert worked with the child psychologist Jean Piaget in Geneva, and he built upon Piaget's theory of constructivism to develop his own theory on learning which he called ‘constructionism’.

The idea is that students learn through participation in project-based learning where they make connections between different ideas and areas of knowledge. Constructionism states that learning happens most effectively when people are active in making tangible objects in the real world.

Today Papert is considered the world's foremost expert on how technology can provide new ways to learn.

books

• Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas by Seymour Papert

first publ.1980 - Basic Books 1993 edition - ISBN-10: 0465046746

• Seymour Papert: The Children’s Machine - Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer

publ. 1993 - Basic Books - ISBN-10: 0465010636

see more:

• The wikipedia entry for Seymour Papert

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Papert

• The wikipedia entry for Constructionism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructionism_(learning_theory)

• MIT Lifelong Gindergarten Group

https://www.media.mit.edu/groups/lifelong-kindergarten/overview/

• MIT Media Lab Research Projects

https://www.media.mit.edu/research/?filter=projects

• The Logo Foundation

http://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/