Read Gary Stager‘s article and find out about this triangle–mentioning Papert as a the learner-centered point, Tom Snyder (my hero) as the teacher using technology as a prop (how true) and Bork as the representative of using the computer to “deliver content, monitor progress and aggregate data”–and it is relevant to any discussion of technology use in schools today.

(Right click to view full-size…BTW, can you tell I flunked art in kindergarten?)

One of Gary’s points is this, a point that highlights why I agree with him more than I disagree:

I got excited about computing 30 years ago because I was able to feel creative and intellectually powerful. I aspire to more bang for the computer buck by creating contexts in which students use computers to learn and create in ways that enhance their humanity and challenge preconceived notions of children as inadequate thinkers.

Wow, this reminds me of one of my mantras…”Ask not what computers can do with students, but rather, what students can do with computers.” It ties into the idea that children use technology as a tool to enhance their creativity, not have irrelevant curriculum drilled into them.

How can we encourage educators to enhance their students’ creativity, not emphasize school curriculum’s irrelevance to the real world?

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