[Olpc-open] Sorry, what are we teaching? How?

[Edward Cherlin]

There has been a great deal of heat and some light shed on OLPC policy
in recent discussions, but it is clear that much of the commentary is
hampered by extreme lack of clarity on OLPC's goals. Is it an
education project, or a laptop project? Why? Is it really One Laptop
Per Child, or should it be called One Education Per Child? Whatever is
the case, why are essential management functions being ignored? I
would like to go back to the beginning, and ask about the supposed
education mission.

We are told that Constructionism is the essence of the OLPC project
(or not), but we are not told what Constructionism is, or how to apply
it. There are suggestions that Constructionism will end poverty, solve
global warming, and otherwise Save the World (but not do absolutely
everything. No cure for the common cold, in any version I have heard).
Or possibly that laptops will do all that, regardless of
Constructionism. We have been told that Free Software will do all of
these things, or none of them. Or that Free Software is irrelevant,
and we should switch to Windows.

I would like to have more discussion of all of these matters, but I
propose that this thread be about Constructionism. If you want to talk
about anything else I have mentioned above, please change the subject
line.

Constructionism means at least two different things.

* One is how the learner constructs knowledge and understanding. This
is universal, and doesn't depend on a teaching technique. But
understanding how people learn suggests how to teach more effectively.

* The second is that people learn better by doing and making,
particularly collaborative public creation, rather than by theory,
lectures, and book learning. But not any of these to the exclusion of
the others. Theory is essential to guide experiment. Lectures are good
for communicating some kinds of ideas and information. We might
redesign books when we can include software in them, but that does not
change their basic function of recording new ideas in a systematic way
to simplify access to them, or surveying existing ideas.

One thing that Constructionism is not is unguided exploration. There
is a place for play, for browsing, for exploring one's ignorance, and
so on. But these cannot be the only forms of learning. A large part of
what children need to know is what others have discovered or
constructed before them that is in common use in their society and
culture. Similarly for scientists, artists, craft workers, and
everybody else who has the opportunity to build on what has gone
before, and sometimes to build something new.

Constructionism makes the point that how we learn depends on what we
already know, as well as on our mental abilities and the like. The
first question is, then, what do you think you know, and what do you
want to know? Also, why do you want to know it? That is, what do you
want to be able to do with your enhanced knowledge and understanding?

I'll start.

I have read a little bit of the literature, and followed the
discussions here. I had the advantage that my mother studied Piaget in
her college days, majoring in Child Development, and often talked
about him and other Constructivist pioneers.

The Constructionist point of view says that we should try to construct
something, and not just talk about theories, in order to construct
meaningful understanding. Constructing Sugar has been quite
educational, but for many of us it is still not clear what Sugar is
about. My challenge is to create a Constructionist way to introduce
people to Constructionism. Letting people try out the XO is useful,
but by no means sufficient.

The biggest question is how to deal with the culture clash that
Constructionism inherently creates. Conventional education treats a
great deal of the dominant culture simply as given, and not to be
questioned. Constructionism requires behaviors that are not valued in
many cultures, such as speaking up with new ideas, or criticizing
received wisdom.

What do you think, Sirs?
-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay