The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer (edit title)

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Didn’t Like It Rated 2 stars “I could not say that I like this or don't like it, however, do not think it is the book to place on a student teacher's reading list as it is a bit too heavy. It does, however, have a place for those who want to develop a deeper insight into the constructivist approach to using computers with...” see full review » see other reviews »

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  • Rated 2 stars

  “I could not say that I like this or don't like it, however, do not think it is the book to place on a student teacher's reading list as it is a bit too heavy. It does, however, have a place for those who want to develop a deeper insight into the constructivist approach to using computers with children.
  
  Papert is a thinker, there is no doubt about that. He thinks about thinking and manages to summarise concepts beautifully:
  
  'The most important skill determining a person's life pattern has already become the ability to learn new skills, to take in new concepts, to assess new situations, to deal with the unexpected. This will be increasingly true in the future: The competitive ability is the ability to learn'. vii.
  
  Now one has to remember Papert studied with the great Piaget and pulls his thinking greatly from Piaget's school of thought: children are not empty vessels wating to be filled with knoweldge they need to construct it. As with the old African proverb:
  
  'If a man is hungry you can give him a fish, but it is better to hive him a line and teach him to catch fish himself', 139
  
  Traditional education mirrors the first aspect where the teacher is the provider of the knowledge (fish), however, the change in constructivist learning is to teach chidlren how to learn (how to catch fish).
  
  
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  Tecnoteach wrote this review Wednesday, February 4 2009. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No

  
  
  • Rated 0 stars

  “Classic book for my field. Papert's thinking is right on target. There was much more higher-level thinking going on with that little turtle than I see in most computer integration at schools today!”

  Dave R wrote this review Friday, February 8 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No