by Gary Stager’s work and educational philosophy are based on four ideas.
- The Piagetian idea that “knowledge is a consequence of experience.”
- Xenophon’s admonition that “nothing beautiful can ever be forced.”
- Schools have a sacred obligation to introduce children to things they don’t yet know they love.
- Computational technology makes complexity accessible to children and allows them to solve problems their teachers may never have anticipated.
These four ideas come together in a desire to make school the best seven hours of a kid’s life where she may become good at doing things and experience the satisfaction accompanying working towards continuous progress in areas that matter to her. The future viability of school depends on identifying the types of experiences we want our children to have much of the time. These experiences must benefit from being co-located in the same space at the same time and are rewarded by the participation of students. (152 words – oops!)
Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer – Forward 50, co-author of Invent To Learn — Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, and the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. He led professional development in the world’s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about Gary here.
