Chapters * Title * Contents * Introduction * Place * System * Design * Using * Future * Bibliography
Sections
* Place * Constructionist * Evocative * Crystallizing * MediaFusion * Organizing * Why * Glass * Multiplayer * Reflection * MUD
Constructionist Inspirations
"It is easy enough to formulate simple catchy versions of the idea of constructionism; for example, thinking of it as
"learning-by-making." One purpose of this introductory chapter is to orient the reader toward using the diversity in the
volume to elaborate--to construct--a sense of constructionism much richer and more multifaceted, and very much deeper in its
implications, than could be conveyed by any such formula.
My little play on the words construct and constructionism already hints at two of these multiple facets--one seemingly
"serious" and one seemingly "playful." The serious facet will be familiar to psychologists as a tenet of the kindred,
but less specific, family of psychological theories that call themselves constructivist. Constructionism--the N
word as opposed to the V word--shares constructivism's connotation of learning as "building knowledge structures"
irrespective of the circumstances of the learning. It then adds the idea that this happens especially felicitously in a context
where the learner is consciously engaged in constructing a public entity, whether it's a sand castle on the beach or a theory
of the universe. And this in turn implies a ramified research program which is the real subject of this introduction and of the
volume itself. But in saying all this I must be careful not to transgress the basic tenet shared by the V and the N forms: If
one eschews pipeline models of transmitting knowledge in talking among ourselves as well as in theorizing about classrooms,
then one must expect that I will not be able to tell you my idea of constructionism. Doing so is bound to
trivialize it. Instead, I must confine myself to engage you in experiences (including verbal ones) liable to encourage your own
personal construction of something in some sense like it. Only in this way will there be something rich enough in your mind to
be worth talking about. But if I am being really serious about this, I have to ask (and this will quickly lead us into really
deep psychological and epistemological waters) what reasons I have to suppose that you will be willing to do this and that if
you did construct your own constructionism that it would have any resemblance to mine?
I find an interesting toe-hold for the problem in what I call the playful facet--the element of tease inherent in the idea that
it would be particularly oxymoronic to convey the idea of constructionism through a definition since, after all,
constructionism boils down to demanding everything be understood by being constructed. The joke is relevant to the problem, for
the more we share the less improbable it is that our self-constructed constructions should converge." (Papert 1991b)
Keeping this in mind, let's look at some examples of environments where children build to understand. What could you learn by
playing with these?
Greg Kimberly/gregkimb@gak.com