[IAEP] [Grassroots-l] Concise explanation of Constructionism from the Learning Team

[Alexios Zavras]

Seth Woodworth wrote [edited]:
> Constructionism is based on two different senses of "construction." It is
> grounded in the idea that people learn by actively constructing new
> knowledge, rather than having information "poured" into their heads.
> Moreover, constructionism asserts that people learn with particular
> effectiveness when they are engaged in constructing personally meaningful
> artifacts (such as computer programs, animations, or robots).
[...]
> I thought that this explination was concise and really interesting.  I would
> love to explain this to people who want to desige activities, just to give
> them a little snapshot of the concept.  Does anyone have a problem with this
> deffinition? Does anyone have an improvement?


I'm just a computer guy (and a father :-)
and I realize the emphasis (or even necessity)
that Papert's theory places on the computer,
but I have to ask:

could the list of examples on the end of the concise definition
be expanded to include a non-computer-based artifact ?
e.g., is an artifact of fiction (story, fairy tale, ...) acceptable
in the constructionism world ?

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