A Learning Tool For Every Kid

Ever since I read Mindstorms about 4 years ago, I was fascinated by Mathetic thinking, proposed by Seymour Papert. Papert is a living legend – the inventor of Logo and someone who predicated that students would be using computers in early sixties.

Here is Judy O’Connel’s blog on Global Summit 2006 (what a cool blogid) on Seymour Papert’s points about learning.

  1. Every kid must have a computer! It is ridiculous to waste further time to debating this. Every knowledge worker (with the exception of our students) finds that technology is the proper medium for thinking work. If knowledge workers have computers, then why don’t kids!
  2. Shift from HOW to WHAT to learn.
  3. Recognise that it is global forces that drive change in education. Look to the forces in the global scene, rather than relentless educational debate to find the focus for future learning initiatives.
  4. Stop talking to the computer industry, and do not accept their economic agenda to spend more in order to buy bigger and better. We should be setting the pace and saying what we need. The $100 laptop project shows the clout that we can have if we wish to really make a difference.

Look at the forces in the global scene. I think every country needs to do that. What a noble goal, to give every child in the world a learning tool – the computer.