My basic idea is that programming is the most powerful medium of developing the sophisticated and rigorous thinking needed for mathematics, for grammar, for physics, for statistics, for all the "hard" subjects.... In short, I believe more than ever that programming should be a key part of the intellectual development of people growing up.
Interpretation
Programming cultivates critical thinking skills essential for various academic disciplines.
Seymour Papert emphasizes the importance of programming as a vital tool for fostering sophisticated and analytical thinking necessary for understanding complex subjects like mathematics and sciences. He advocates for integrating programming into education to enhance the intellectual growth of young learners, proposing that it not only serves as a means of learning technical skills but also as a framework for developing broader cognitive abilities.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of skills in the digital age.
The word constructionism is a mnemonic for two aspects of the theory of science education underlying this project. From constructivist theories of psychology we take a view of learning as a reconstruction rather than as a transmission of knowledge. Then we extend the idea of manipulative materials to the idea that learning is most effective when part of an activity the learner experiences as constructing a meaningful product.
Nothing enrages me more than when people criticize my criticism of school by telling me that schools are not just places to learn maths and spelling, they are places where children learn a vaguely defined thing called socialization...I think schools generally do an effective and terribly damaging job of teaching children to be infantile, dependent, intellectually dishonest, passive and disrespectful to their own developmental capacities.
The scandal of education is that every time you teach something, you deprive a [student] of the pleasure and benefit of discovery.
Every maker of video games knows something that the makers of curriculum don't seem to understand. You'll never see a video game being advertised as being easy. Kids who do not like school will tell you it's not because it's too hard. It's because it's--boring
A programming language is like a natural, human language in that it favors certain methaphors, images, and ways of thinking.
It is through our hands that we speak to the child. That we communicate. _x000D_ Touch is the child's first language, understanding comes long after feeling
We shouldn't be profiting from our students who are drowning in debt while giving a great deal to the banks. That's just wrong.
Extemporaneous speaking should be practised and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public.
Anyway -- because we are readers, we don't have to wait for some communications executive to decide what we should think about next -- and how we should think about it. We can fill our heads with anything from aardvarks to zucchinis -- at any time of night or day.
Experience by itself teaches nothing... Without theory, experience has no meaning. Without theory, one has no questions to ask. Hence, without theory, there is no learning.
Musical ability is not an inborn talent but an ability which can be developed. Any child who is properly trained can develop musical ability just as all children develop the ability to speak their mother tongue. The potential of every child is unlimited.
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