How Children Learn: A Case for EdTech Based on Jewish and General Sources

It is part of the educator’s responsibility to see equally to two things: First, that the problem grows out of the conditions of the experience being had in the present, and that it is within the range of the capacity of students; and, secondly, that it is such that it arouses in the learner an active quest for information and for production of new ideas. The new facts and new ideas thus obtained become the ground for further experiences in which new problems are presented. The process is a continuous spiral. (Dewey, 1938. Quoted in Martinez & Stager 19)

Constructivism emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, giving rise to the idea that learners are not passive recipients of information, but that they actively construct their knowledge in interaction with the environment and through the reorganization of their mental structures. Learners are therefore viewed as sense-makers, not simply recording given information but interpreting it. This view of learning led to the shift from the “knowledge-acquisition” to “knowledge-construction” metaphor. The growing evidence in support of the constructive nature of learning was also in line with and backed by the earlier work of influential theorists such as Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner. While there are different versions of constructivism, what is found in common is the learner-centred approach whereby the teacher becomes a cognitive guide of learner’s learning and not a knowledge transmitter. (From: Most Influential Theories of Learning)

“Constructionism—the N word as opposed to the V word— shares contructivism’s view of learning as “building knowledge structures”through progressive internalization of actions... 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. (Papert, 1991. Quoted in Ackerman)

The Lonely Man of Faith By Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik, Page 12

Man's likeness to God expresses itself in man's striving and ability to become a creator.

It is 100 years since John Dewey began arguing for the kind of change that would move schools away from authoritarian classrooms with abstract notions to environments in which learning is achieved through experimentation, practice and exposure to the real world. I, for one, believe the computer makes Dewey’s vision far more accessible epistemologically. It also makes it politically more likely to happen, for where Dewey had nothing but philosophical arguments, the present day movement for change has an army of agents. The ultimate pressure for the change will be child power. (Papert, 1996. Quoted in Martinez & Stager 19)

I think that the great thinkers about education – the Deweys and the Piagets and the

Montessoris and the Vygotskys – they all see the same fault in our education system.

I think the differences between them are absolutely minor compared with the

situation of sticking with the system as it is. But although they had the right idea, like

Leonardo da Vinci and his airplane, they didn’t have the infrastructure to be able to

implement it. So, are we going to continue using the new technology to implement

what was only there because there wasn’t the technology? (Papert, 2006. Quoted in Martinez & Stager 24)