[Its.an.education.project] Another set of thoughts

[Greg Smith (gregmsmi)]

Hi Alan et al,

Great article, thanks. I'm struck by how similar it is to Marvin
Minsky's recent post on learning mathematics
(http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Marvin_Minsky_essays).

Interestingly, both use the same topology (mapping) analogy for
learning.

The end of your article refers to a book and projects in it. Can you
send a link to that?

I really like your case that children have to try it out for themselves
to fully appreciate the meaning of length or size. 

Understanding what science means by "knowing" was brought home for me
when the Children's Museum in Boston took out the old T-Rex model (now
outside) and replaced it with a new very different one. Until I was
about 20 years old, everyone said the old one represented what T-Rex
really looked like. Then he changed!

Thanks,

Greg S


Alan Kay <alan.nemo at yahoo.com> 

> At the risk of trying to talk about education, here is another little 
> essay with a few observations...
> 
> http://www.vpri.org/pdf/human_condition.pdf