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Title: Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas by Seymour A. Papert, John Sculley ISBN: 0-465-04674-6 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: March, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: EIGHT STARS -- A Breakthrough in Natural Learning
Comment: This is the best book I have ever read on how to assist people to learn for themselves. Papert began his work by collaborating with Jean Piaget, and then applied those perspectives in a self-programming language designed to help children learn math and physics.
Papert explains Piaget's work and provides case studies of how the programming language, LOGO, can help. He provides a wonderful contrasting explanation of the weaknesses of how math and physics are usually taught in schools.
I learned quite a few things from this that I did not know before. People are very good at developing theories about why things work the way they do. I knew that these theories are almost always wrong. What I did not realize is that if you give the person a way to test their theory, the person will keep devising new theories until they hit on one that works. What is usually missing in education is the means to allow that testing to occur.
An especially imaginative part of this book were the discussions of how to create theory testing solutions that are much simpler and easier to apply than any school problem you ever saw in these subjects. Papert works from a very fundamental and deep understanding of math and physics to reach the heart of the most useful thought processes for applying these subjects. It is thrilling to read about what you have known for many years, and to suddenly see it in a totally different and improved perspective.
Another benefit I got from this book were plenty of ideas for how to help my teenage daughter with her math. She is very verbal, and Papert points out that math seldom teaches a vocabulary for talking about math. As a result, she memorizes a lot and gets dissociated from the subject. I got a lot of ideas for how to encourage her to personalize the concepts and problems by moving her own body. From that I realized that I often solve the same kinds of problems by recalling physical situations I have been in. But I have failed to help her make that connection because I was unaware of it on a conscious level.
If you want to improve as a learner, help others learn better and faster, or simply want to understand more about different ways to think, this is a great book. I hope that all teachers get a chance to read and apply it.
Enjoy learning more!
Rating: 4
Summary: Mindstorms is mind-expanding
Comment: If you ever wondered why you didn't "get it" in a hated school subject, even though you seem to "get it" in other parts of your life, read this book. Pappert discusses learning, teaching and the liberating role that technology--if done right--can play in the classroom and out of it.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good for teaching human learning, but weak for application
Comment: As other reviewers have pointed out, papert does a nice job of going through how humans learn and setting up the case that the current education system does not fit our learning process very well. However, this book does little to give teachers specific on how to properly use the computer in the classroom. LOGO, while a useful tool for learning, does not translate well to a classroom setting or for teaching the necessary curriculum.
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Title: The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer by Seymour A. Papert ISBN: 0465010636 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: May, 1994 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap by Seymour A. Papert, Nicholas Negroponte ISBN: 1563523353 Publisher: Longstreet Press Pub. Date: October, 1996 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Creative Projects with LEGO Mindstorms by Benjamin Erwin ISBN: 0201708957 Publisher: Pearson Educational Pub. Date: 09 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition by John Bransford, Ann L. Brown, Rodney R. Cocking, National Research Council (U.S.) Committee on Developments in the Scie, National Research Council (U.S.) Committee on Learning Research and Ed ISBN: 0309070368 Publisher: National Academy Press Pub. Date: 15 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Learning with Technology (1998 ASCD Yearbook) by Chris Dede ISBN: 0871202980 Publisher: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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