Chapter 1: The Children’s Machine

I would like to first say that I purchased this book worried that I got the wrong one, but that was what Murray’s bookstore said so I got it.  Thanks Nate, for allowing us to read the one we purchased, even if it wasn’t the right one. For those that are reading the other book, I am reading, The Children’s Machine, by Seymour Papert. The first chapter is titled Yearners and Schoolers.  The yearners are the ones that are yearning for a change in the school system.  They know that we are needing a change, but are unsure of what to do to create the change.  The schoolers are the ones that don’t realize we need a “megachange” and feel that we aren’t perfect, but who is.  The schoolers also don’t feel that our schools are falling behind, we just need to tweak what we are doing a little. The chapter discusses how all the learning theories from the past are not how students learn anymore.  Does a infant learn from the parents lecturing them? NO, they learn from the environment and examine things in their own way and make connections between things in their own way.  Of course, they are guided by their parents, but their parents aren’t telling them what connection to make.   So, what we need to do is to make schools model that learning.  Let the students use the Internet and technology to learn for themselves in their own way.  Each student has their own ideas and they each come from unique backgrounds so they will each take something different away from a learning experience.  The major concept, and I agree with it totally, (I’m a yearner) is that we need a “MEGACHANGE” in our schools.