Second International School On Mind, Brain And Education
2008, May 22-26
Basic and applied topics
in biological rhythms and learning
Directors: Antonio M. Battro and Kurt W. Fischer
Program officer: María Lourdes Majdalani
MIT. USA
Constructionism and digital technologies
This presentation examines the differences between Piaget’s constructivism and what Papert refers to as “constructionism”. Both views share the notion that learners actively contribute to the construction of their knowledge by transforming their world. Yet the views also differ, each highlighting some aspects of how people learn and grow in context, while leaving other questions unanswered. Integrating the views helps shed light on how today’s children, often referred to as “digital natives”, make sense of their experience, and
find a place—and voice—in the world. While digital tools, media, and cultural artifacts offer new mediational means through which children explore, express, and negotiate meaning, caring adults and like-minded peers remain the very reason for, and recipients of a child’s mindful engagement and creative contributions. Time has come to bring people—and place—back into tech tales, and to look into young “natives’” own surprising ways of sharing, trusting, dwelling-in-situations, and growing-in-connection.