Seymour Papert, author of Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas, would relish in the fact that coding and robotics in education were even topics up for discussion today! Papert wholeheartedly believed that allowing children to use coding, especially while learning mathematical concepts, making mistakes, and reviewing and correcting those mistakes is the key to overcoming "mathphobia," the fear of learning math. Stanford University's Paulo Bilkenstein wrote in his article, "Seymour Papert's Legacy: Thinking About Learning, and Learning About Thinking," that Papert's work with his programming language LOGO, "convinced him [Papert] that children learned more efficiently if they could see a tangible result for their learning efforts."
Papert believed that just as we use pencils, paper, paint brushes, and crayons in our every day lives, so will we add the use of computers. As you will see from the video clip below, Papert also used robotics to enhance learning. With Lego LOGO, children are, "playing with toys in a very sophisticated way." They build with construction Lego sets then interface what they have built by programming with the LOGO computer language to add motion. Papert believed in what he called the "fundamental fact about learning: Anything is easy if you can assimilate it to your collection of models. If you can't, anything can be painfully difficulty." Most importantly, he believed that children learn that, "knowledge is a unified thing. That mathematical and scientific knowledge is not separate from their passion for toys and from things they did from when they were small children."
Watch the video clip below to see Seymour Papert discuss his beliefs on how computers and technology in the classroom will change how children are educated:
Great post Kelly. I like the quote. " knowledge is a unified thing. that mathematical and scientific knowledge is not separate from their passion for toys and from things they did as small children." Is he saying that the joy that children feel when they're playing toys should be the same joy they feel when they're learning? Also I agree that children do better when they can see a tangible result. That's a tricky one with music, in that it's not so much tangible as it is more experiential. But I really like the idea and I want to hear more from you on it . I do know when I video recorded my students and then played it back for them, they liked it and wanted to practice more and try again and again.
ReplyDeleteKim: I really enjoyed Papert's book. It took me awhile to get through it because he wrote in such a sophisticated manner, but he was way ahead of his time when it came to using technology to enhance how children learn. Mindstorms was published in 1980, and we are just now learning about the importance of technology use for our students. I love that Papert worked so closely with Piaget and added to his fundamental theory on how children learn through play. Thanks for commenting!
DeleteI do agree that computers are part of our students' everyday lives at this point. I was excited about the possibility of our school being chosen as a coding school, but we weren't. Next year, I plan on adding more coding activities to my math rotations whether it be some time on code.org or I remember it was mentioned in our class that there are some board games related to coding. I will check that out too! By the way, I love the quote Kim mentioned also. Excellent!
ReplyDeleteJen: I had no idea that coding involved so much mathematics until we used LOGO in class last semester. I love everything about coding, especially the ability to problem solve. Papert believed that students making mistakes while coding was one of the most important take-aways from learning. It's through finding and correcting their mistakes that children learn the best. I can't wait to hear how adding coding to your math rotations works. Keep me posted!!
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