As U.S. Rep. Albert Gore Jr. (D., Tenn.) said recently at a Washington brief-ing, 'We have some serious thinking to do when scientists as distinguished as Nicholas Negroponte and Seymour Papert leave the United States in order to be part of the World Computer Center."
Al was ahead of his time, like the scientists who left.
The connection between Montessori, MacLuhan and Papert is worth exploring.
For instance, I got into thinking about personal computing from a child’s point of view, because of an encounter with Seymour Papert, the Logo [programming language] guy in the ’60s. I had heard about him, went to visit him in ’68. I read all his stuff. Papert was a mathematician. I have a degree in math and I could see what he was doing. It was like, “Holy shit. This is the best idea anybody’s ever had.” It was profound.
Time to resurrect Seymour Papert and Logo.
(Actually, I’m pretty sure the company above meant “constructivism” here, since “constructionism” builds upon the learn-by-doing of constructivism by stressing the importance of the tangible not just the abstract.)
Useful note. And reminder.
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