The Nature of Constructionist Learning

MAS.962 (H) Special Topics in Media Technology
Spring 2003, Tuesdays 5:00-7:00pm, E15-344 (MIT Media Lab)

Bakhtiar Mikhak (mikhak@media.mit.edu)

TENTATIVE WEEKLY SCHEDULE

February 4: REGISTRATION

• NOTE:

  There will be no meetings this week.

  I will read your "Statement of Interest" paper and get back to you to let you know if you got in the class by Friday morning.

  READINGS:
  

FOR THIS WEEK: The course description, reading list, and requirements.

• DUE: [By 5:00 PM on Friday, February 7]
  

STATEMENT OF INTEREST: Write a short paper (a couple of pages long) on why you would like to participate in this class and how you imagine it would fit in with your research, academic, or general interests. Email your paper to ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

February 11: CONSTUCTIONISM -- DEEP DIVE

• NOTE:

If you plan to enroll in this class you should attend and actively participate in all class meetings, particularly this week's class, it being the first official meeting of the course.

• READINGS:

1. Papert, S. (1991). Situating constructionism. In Papert & Harel, Eds., Constructionism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

2. Papert, S. (1999) What is Logo? and Who Needs It? Introduction to a collection of essays on LOGO experiences in a number of different countries by LCSI.

3. Papert, S. (2000). What's the big idea? Steps toward a pedagogy of Idea Power. IBM Systems Journal, vol. 39, no. 3-4.

4. Duckworth, E. (1972). The Having of Wonderful Ideas. Harvard Educational Review Vol. 42 No. 2 May 1972, 217-231.

• DUE: [By 5:00 PM on Friday, February 14]

SHORT PAPER: What does Constructionism mean to you? If you are already familiar with the work of Epistemology & Learning groups (Future of Learning Group, the Lifelong Kindergarten Group, and the Grassroots invention Group) at the Media Lab, discuss how your prior understanding of Constructionism has changed or evolved by this week's readings. Please send your papers to ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

I strongly encourage you to discuss the readings on the course mailing list: ncl03@media.mit.edu. I will follow your postings very closely to ensure that the class discussions reflect what you have found most interesting.

February 18: S. PAPERT -- FOUNDATIONAL WORK

• NOTE:

There will be no meeting today becuase MIT is on a Monday schedule.

• READINGS:

Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. New York: Basic Books. [required text: available at amazon.com]

• DUE:

SHORT PAPER: The short foreward to Mindstorms, called The Gears of My Childhood, has been very influential in the work of constructionist learning and education researchers. Write a short first reaction to this piece. I am only looking to see what emotions it evokes in you and how your thoughts and feelings about the central points of this piece evolve as you read the rest of Mindstorms. Send your papers to ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

February 25: S. PAPERT -- FOUNDATIONAL WORK

• NOTE:

  Mindstorms is a foundational work for constructionist learning researchers. Many of the later writing assignments will be based on Mindstorms. I would therefore recommend a close reading of this book.

• READINGS:

  Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. New York: Basic Books. [required text: available at amazon.com]

• DUE:

SHORT PAPER: Write a book review for Mindstorms. Note that this book was written in 1980. To whom would you recommend this book? Are the central messages of Mindstorms still relevant today? Discuss the impact, if any, this book has had on you personally. Please send your papers to: ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

March 4: J. PIAGET

• READINGS:

  1. Piaget, J. (1955). The Construction of Reality in the Child
  

  2. Piaget, J. (1968). Genetic Epistemology

  [Piaget's Biogrpahy]

  3. von Glasersfeld, E. (1997). Homage to Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

  4. Papert, S. (1988). The Conservation of Piaget: The Computer as Grist to the Constructivist Mill. In Constructivism in the Computer Age. NY: Lawrence Erlbaum.

  5. Papert, S. (1999). Papert on Piaget. Time Magazine, special issue on "The Century’s Greatest Minds," page105, March 29.

  6. Duckworth, E. (1996). "The Having of Wonderful Ideas" and Other Essays on Teaching and Learning. New York: Teachers College Press.

  7. Gruber, H.E. & Voneche, J.J., eds. (1977). The Essential Piaget (Introduction, pp. xvi-xliv). New York: Basic Books.

• DUE:

SHORT PAPER: How would Piaget review Mindstorms? Discuss the Piagetian roots of Papert's work through of a few concrete representative sections from Mindstorms. Please send your papers to: ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

March 11: L.S. VYGOTSKY, A.N. LEONT'EV, AND A.R. LURIA

• READINGS:

  1. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [required text: available at amazon.com]

  • CHAPTER 1: Tool and Symbol in Child Development
  • CHAPTER 6: Interaction betweeen Learning and Development

    [Vygosty's Biography]

  2. Leont'ev, A.N. (1978). Activity, Consciousness, and Personality.
  

  [Leont'ev's Biography]

  3. Luria, A.R. (1976). Cognitive Development: Its Social and Cultural Foundations.

  [Luria's Biography]

  4. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) Theoretical framework for the research at Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research at the University of Helsinki.
  

  5. Cole, M. & Wertsch, J.V. (1996). Beyond the individual-social antinomy in discussions of Piaget and Vygotsky. Human-Development. Sep-Oct; Vol 39(5): 250-256.

• DUE:

  SHORT PAPER: Reflect on Mindstorms in light of the research by Vygotsky, Leont'ev and Luria. Please send your papers to ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

March 20: J. DEWEY

• NOTE:

  Class will not meet at its regularly scheduled time this week since the Spring TTT meeting will be held on March 18 and 19. We will therefore instead meet 7:00-9:00pm on Thursday, March 20.

• READINGS:

  Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education. New York: Collier Books. [required text: available at amazon.com][

  [Dewey's profile on infed.org]

• DUE:

  SHORT PAPER: Reflect on Mindstorms in light of Experience and Education. Please send your papers to ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

March 25: SPRING BREAK

April 1: LAVE & WEGNER, ROGOFF, COLLINS, BROWN & DUGUID

• READINGS:

  1. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. NY: Cambridge University Press. [required text: available at amazon.com]

  2. Hodges, D. (2002). Participation as Dis-Identification With/in a Community of Practice. XMCA Journal , vol. 5, no. 4.
  

  3. Brown, J.S., Collins, A., and Duguid, P. (1989). Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning. Educational Researcher, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 32-42.

  4. Rogoff, Barbara (1994). Developing Understanding of the Idea of Communities of Learners. Mind, Culture, and Activity 1(4): 209-229.

• DUE:

  SHORT PAPER: Reflect on Mindstorms in light of this week's readings. Please send your papers to ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

April 8: I. ILLICH, P. FREIRE, E. FROMM AND A. FALBEL

• READINGS:

  1. Illich, I. (1970) Deschooling Society. (Chapters 3 and 7.) New York, NY: World Perspectives, Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. [required text: also avialable at amazon.com]

  [Illich's Biography]
  [Illich's profile on infed.org]

  2. Freire, P. (1972). Letters to Cristina: Reflections on My Life and Work. (Chapters 1-3.) [required text: available at amazon.com]

  [Freire's Biography from paulofreire.org)]
  [Freire's profile on infed.org]

  3. Fromm. E. (1960). Summerhill - A Radical Approach to Child Rearing

  [Fromm's Biography]

  4. Falbel, A. (1989). Friskolen 70: An Ethnographically Informed Inquiry Into the Social Context of Learning. (Preface, Introduction, Conclusion, and Looking Back at Friskolen 70). Cambridge, MA: MIT Media Laboratory Doctoral Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

• DUE:

  SHORT PAPER: Reflect on Mindstorms in light of this week's readings. Send your papers to ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

April 15: RESEARCH TOOLS AND METHODOLOGY

• READINGS:

  1. Papert, S. (1993). Computer Criticism vs. Technocentric Thinking. Educational Researcher, January-February.

  We will also read a few short articles in response to Papert's paper, Computer Cricitism vs. Technocentric Thinking.

  2. Papert, S. (1996). An Exploration in the Space of Mathematics Educations. International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning, Vol. 1, No. 1.

  3. Papert, S. (1994) Foreword to Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams. MIT Press.

  4. Ackermann, E. (1990). From Decontextualized to Situated Knowledge: Revisiting Piaget's Water-Level Experiment. E&L Memo No. 5.

  5. Resnick, M. (1990). MultiLogo: A Study of Children and Concurrent Programming. Interactive Learning Environments, vol. 1, no. 3.

  6. Resnick, M. (1998). Technologies for Lifelong Kindergarten.
  Educational Technology Research and Development, vol. 46, no. 4.
  
  7. Resnick, M., Berg, R., & Eisenberg, M. (2000). Beyond Black Boxes: Bringing Transparency and Aesthetics Back to Scientific Investigation. Journal of the Learning Sciences, vol. 9, no. 1.

  8. Martin, F., Mikhak, B., and Silverman, B. (2000). MetaCricket: A designer's kit for making computational devices. IBM Systems Journal, volume 39 No. 3-4.

• DUE:

  SHORT PAPER: React to Computer Criticism vs. Technocentric Thinking. Send your papers to ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

April 22: DOCUMENTATION, REFLECTION, AND EVALUATION

• READINGS:

  Project Zero and Reggio Children (2002). Making Learning Visible: Children as Individual and Group Learners. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Reggio Children.

• DUE:

  SHORT PAPER: Compare and contrast the research methodologies in the constructionist studies we read about last week and the work presented in Making Learning Visible: Children as Individual and Group Learners. Send your papers to ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

  SUBMIT: By 5:00 PM on Friday, April 25, send a draft of your final paper and project proposal to ncl03@media.mit.edu for feedback from everyone in the class.

April 29: DIVERSITY IN LEARNING

• READINGS:

  1. Papert, S. (1986). Beyond the Cognitive: The Other Face of Mathematics. Proceedings of the nineteenth international Conference for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Plenary Lectures.

  2. Turkle, S., & Papert, S. (1990). Epistemological Pluralism. Signs, vol. 16, no. 1.

  3. Wilensky, U. (1990). Abstract Meditations on the Concrete and Concrete Implications for Mathematics Education. Constructionism. Harel, I. & Papert, S. (Eds.). Norwood, MA: Ablex Publishing.

  4. Papert, S. (1999). Diversity in Learning: A Vision for the New Millennium.
  Videotaped speech for Vice President Al Gore's Diversity Task Force.
  

  5. Ackermann, E. (2001). Piaget’s Constructivism, Papert’s Constructionism: What’s the difference? An extended version of this paper appears in French.

• DUE:

  SHORT PAPER: Discuss your final paper and project proposal in light of this week's reading. Send your papers to ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

  FEEDBACK: Post your comments and questions about the final paper and project proposals that others submitted to ncl03@media.mit.edu at the of last week.

May 6: COMMUNITIES OF LEARNERS

• READINGS:

1. Shaw, A. (1995). Social Constructionism and the Inner City: Designing Environments for Social Development and Urban Renewal. (Chapters 1 & 2). Cambridge, MA: MIT Media Laboratory Doctoral Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

2. Resnick, M., Rusk, N., and Cooke, S. (1998). The Computer Clubhouse: Technological Fluency in the Inner City. In Schon, D., Sanyal, B., and Mitchell, W. (eds.), High Technology and Low-Income Communities, pp. 266-286. Cambridge: MIT Press.

3. Papert, S. & Cavallo, D. (2000) The Learning Hub: Entry Point to Twenty First Century Learning.

4. Bruckman, A. (2002). Co-Evolution of Technological Design and Pedagogy in an Online Learning Community To appear in Designing Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning. Editors: Sasha Barab, Rob, and James Gray. Cambridge University Press. Forthcoming 2002.


5. Bruckman, A., and Resnick, M. (1995). The MediaMOO Project: Constructionism and Professional Community. Convergence, vol. 1, no. 1.

6. Bers, M. (2001) Identity Construction Environments: Developing Personal And Moral Values Through The Design Of A Virtual City. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, vol. 10, no. 4. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

7. Borovoy, R., Silverman, B., Gorton, T., Klann, J, Notowidigdo, M., Knep, B., and Resnick, M (2001). Folk Computing: Revisiting Oral Tradition as a Scaffold for Co-Present Communities. Proceedings of the CHI conference on Human factors in computing systems in March 2001. New York: ACM.

• DUE:

  FINAL PAPER: By 5:00 PM on Friday, May 9, upload your final paper to the class swiki. Please also send a copy to: ncl03-papers@media.mit.edu.

  FEEDBACK: By NOON on Monday, May 12, upload your review of papers by two other groups to the class swiki.

May 13: FINAL PROJECT AND PAPER PRESENTATIONS (I)

• NOTE:

  MAKE A SPECIAL NOTE OF THE ADDITIONAL MEETING FOR THIS WEEK.

• DUE:

  PRESENTATIONS: First half of your Final Projects.

May 15: FINAL PROJECT AND PAPER PRESENTATIONS (II)

• NOTE:

  MAKE A SPECIAL NOTE OF THE ADDITIONAL MEETING FOR THIS WEEK.

• DUE:

  PRESENTATIONS: Second half of your Final Projects.

  FINAL PAPER AND PROJECT: Due on the class swiki by MIDNIGHT on THURSDAY, MAY 15.