About Microworlds
The idea of a computer-based microworld is the
constructivist design model of Seymour Papert. The computer-based microworld
exists as a sandbox simplest case beginning.
The child needs no introduction or training to begin to use it; it is
simplest case and it matches the user.
Microworld designers are assumed to be self-regulated learners who can
monitor and regulate their own learning.
Papert, a constructivist and constructionist computer
pioneer greatly influenced by the work of Jean Piaget, developed the LOGO
programming language at MIT. LOGO is the
first case of computer Microworlds. Yasmin Kafai, Mitchell Resnick, Idit Harel
Caperton and Uri Wilensky were all students of Papert’s who have continued
research on microworlds.
There are many different microworlds that offer the
affordances of simplest case and matching the user’s ability. My experience is with LOGO, Squeak Etoys, and
Scratch. LOGO was first created in 1967
for constructivist teaching, and the first turtle robot was created in
1969. The turtle is an on screen cursor
that the user uses to program using turtle geometry. Similar to x,y in Cartesian geometry, the
turtle uses the x,y coordinates relative to its own position. Wikipedia reports that as of March 2009,
there were 197 different implementations of LOGO. [1]
Squeak Etoys was designed by Alan Kay and built by Dan
Ingalls in 1996. Etoys design was
inspired by Alan Kay’s interest in constructionism and Papert’s work with
LOGO. Etoys is a media-rich authoring
environment, which includes turtle geometry, 2D and 3D graphics, images, text,
particles, presentation, sound and MIDI, and the ability to share in real-time
over the internet. [2] Squeak Etoys was inspired by Papert’s philosophy and
LOGO work. Alan’s vision was that Etoys
had no ceiling, in other words, children could continue to explore programming
at deeper levels and interface with the powerful Squeak languageSqueak Etoys
has been pre-installed on the OLPC XO-1
computer since 2006, and continues to be used around the world in formal and
informal education. Here, Etoys
intersects with another learning technology to improve learning. This post is not about that, but you can read
more about OLPC at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child.
I was fortunate to have met Alan Kay and help his group
pilot Squeak Etoys in school classrooms.
I was invited to Alan’s yearly or semi-yearly “Learning Labs”, held at a
music camp in New Hampshire every year before the traditional school year
began, or at a university in March or April.
At this wonderful Learning Lab, many exciting people were invited,
including programmers, education leaders, musicians, and artists. Mitch Resnick from MIT was always there, and
brought many of his students each year.
I don’t have the space to write how wonderful my collaboration and
relationship has been with Alan.
Instead, I’ll give you Mitch Resnick, former Papert student, developer
of StarLogo and Scratch and head of the Lifelong Kindergarten in the Media Lab
at MIT. Here is what Mitch says about
the Learning Labs: http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/life-as-a-learning-lab-449.php.
John Maloney, who had been with the original Squeak and
Etoys development team, went to work at MIT with Mitch to develop the new
iteration of Scratch. [3] Scratch was initially targeted at
after-school clubhouses all over the world.
I also worked briefly with some of the students from the LA clubhouse,
hosting them to visit UCLA and working with some of their UCLA grad student
mentors. The Scratch website was
launched in 2007, and is an example of a learner-centered, vibrant community that
also includes an educator community.
Scratch was built to be a beginner-intermediate programming
microworld, so it didn't access more powerful programming tools. Many years ago at a Squeakers meeting in
Potsdam, Jens Moenig was demonstrating his new BYOB, Build your own Blocks
which added new tools and procedures to Scratch. Jens has since partnered with Brian Harvey at
UC Berkeley. Brian and Jens have
continued the work on BYOB, now referred to as SNAP, and Brian uses the
advanced Scratch environment to teach beginning programming to accolades at
Berkeley. [4]
Mitch wanted Scratch to have a ceiling, so constructing
one’s
The concept of powerful ideas is an important one for
designing educational environments.
Looking closely at WHAT the expected LEARNING will be is a concept
sometimes lost in looking at the glitz of new technologies. Building on sound pedagogy is
imperative. I think collaboration of
different kinds of people on these projects cross-pollinates the ideas in a
helpful fashion. Having educators,
researchers, programmers, all working on design and construction of new
environments is probably the best formula.
Some of you in this class may be all of the above!
Citations
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