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.
Since the beginning of time, children have not liked to study. They would much rather play, and if you have their interests at heart, you will let them learn while they play.
The difference between where you are today and where you'll be five years from now will be found in the quality of books you've read.
Give me a child for the first 5 years of his life and he will be mine forever.
If we want to invest in the prosperity of our nation, we must invest in the education of our children so that their talents may be fully employed.
To educate the intelligence is to expand the horizon of its wants and desires.
A book may be very amusing with numerous errors, or it may be very dull without a single absurdity.
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