Mitchel Resnick’s overview of the ideas underlying the work in the MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten research group.
We want people to learn by work on projects, not just responding and filling out a worksheet, but work on projects where they design something and work on things that are meaningful to them.
The should do it with peers — we know that the best learning happens when we learn with and from other people around us, not just staying by ourselves.
We want people to work on things they’re passionate about — we know that people will work longer and harder and persist in the face of obstacles if they work on things they care about deeply.
And then play. When I say ‘play’, I don’t just mean playing games; I mean a type of attitude towards your interactions. When someone is playful in their interactions, that they’re doing things where they take risks, they test the boundaries, they try new things, they continuously experiment, and that’s the best way to develop as a creative thinker — by projects, peers, passion and play.
That’s the approach that we use here at the MIT Media Lab, and that’s what made the Media Lab, such an innovative place. It’s what’s worked in kindergarten, and now what we need to do is just take those ideas and help change the rest of the world.