Sand Castles Go Digital!!!

I just read a thought provoking article on constructionism “Sand Castles Go Digital” By Idit Harel.

The ways in which we learn are quite complex and has been at the heart of teaching for many years, and this is what I loved about this article it took a simple sand castle, something that everyone has a child has constructed and turned into a metaphor for learning.

It is a common belief that play is good for children, and the reason why this play is good is because it allows children to drive their own learning experience. And this is what Contructionism, a theory pioneered by Seymour Papert holds that children learn best when they are in the active roles of designer and constructor.

So whilst these sand castles offer the greatest unplanned learning in the moment, they offer limitations this includes a child can’t revisit their creation the next day, add to their creation or simply show a friend. So what does this sand castle offer technology? Quite a lot really we are taking this idea of the children being in these active roles of designer and creator, giving them the web, the computer or technology which offers these children a wide-open learning environment in which children can explore the world, express themselves, save their work, revise, add or even re-create their work. I guess the most important part of technology is not necessarily the technology that we do use it is rather how we use this technology. This unplanned learning with children in control allows for the best learning experience to take place.

Reference: http://www.mamamedia.com/areas/grownups/new/21_learning/sand_castles.html accessed 11/04/08