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Interview with:
Professor Mitchel Resnick MS '88, PhD '92
Mitchel
Resnick, LEGO Papert Associate Professor of Learning Research, explores
how new technologies necessitate and facilitate deep changes in how people
think and learn. As director of the Okawa Center and the Lifelong
Kindergarten group, he has created LEGO programmable bricks and the
Computer Clubhouse, an award-winning network of learning centers for youth
from under-served communities. How is the Lifelong Kindergarten's PIE Network bringing new digital technologies (such as programmable bricks) to the public? In my Lifelong Kindergarten research group, we're developing new technologies that expand what kids can design, create, and learn. With our "programmable bricks," for instance, kids can build computational power directly into their physical-world constructions. Children have used these specialized bricks to build a variety of creative constructions, including an odometer for rollerblades (using a magnetic sensor to count wheel rotations); a diary-security system (using a touch sensor to detect if anyone tried to open the diary); and an automated hamster cage (using a light sensor to monitor the hamster’s movements). To get these technologies and ideas out to the public, we work closely with a collection of museums that we call the Playful Invention and Exploration (PIE) Network. The PIE museums use our new technologies in workshops and other public programs for kids and their families. What opportunities has the Computer Clubhouse opened for youth around the world? In collaboration with the Boston Museum of Science, we've created a network of after-school centers called Computer Clubhouses, where young people from low-income communities can learn to express themselves creatively with new technologies. Clubhouse members, ages 10-18, use leading-edge software to create their own artwork, animations, simulations, multimedia presentations, musical compositions, Web sites, and robotic constructions. With support from Intel Corporation, we have opened more than 80 clubhouses in 16 countries around the world. Many clubhouse members have been transformed by their experiences, gaining not only basic skills but also new confidence in themselves as designers, creators, and learners. How will the new Okawa Center help children (and other people) learn? The Okawa Center was made possible through a generous donation from Isao Okawa, founder of Sega. The Center is founded on the belief that new digital technologies provide a historic opportunity for fundamental changes in children’s learning and education. With new technologies, it is possible to rethink how children learn, what they learn, and whom they learn with. The Okawa Center brings together researchers from many different disciplines (educators, designers, engineers, scientists, psychologists, artists, and musicians) to develop a new generation of technologies, activities, and ideas. The goal is not creative technologies, but technologies that foster creativity -- empowering children around the world to design and invent new possibilities for themselves and their communities.
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Institute of Technology