The Children's Machine (Papert, 1994)

The Children's Machine (Papert, 1994)

Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, November 13, 2000
By James Thomson (Mission Viejo, CA)

This was an interesting book that did a good job of bringing up controversial and thought-provoking subjects relating to education and technology. Although Papert makes some good points about how technology could be better utilized in the classroom, he takes the extreme point of view that it could and should totally revolutionize the way that kids learn and that schools operate. Whether or not you as the reader agree with him or not, it is a good read for anyone interested in either education or technology that is sure to make you at least analyze your own points of view on both topics.

p.40 one sees mental roadblocks that stand in the way of progress, and one sees dynamic elements that can be mobilized to serve it.

p.185 Cybernetics is based on a serious study of ways to make the best use of limited knowledge.

p.191 Cybernetics, in fact, is full of principles of adaptation to a world that can never be exactly predicted or completely controlled.

p.200 I defined bricolage as a style of organizing work that can be described as negotational rather than planned in advance - what Warren McCulloch called "heterarchical" rather than hierarchical.

p.217 As Darwin taught us to understand, two key ideas that explain biological evolution and many other emergent processes are variation and selection... biological evolution is still seen as dependent on there being ample opportunity for variety.

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