[Edu-sig] re: Education Arcade

Arthur ajsiegel at optonline.net
Sat Dec 13 13:39:29 EST 2003


>For now, my view is:  more power to MIT's Education Arcade initiative.

The Waldorf School movement, with which I have no affiliation or particular
interest, has an aggressive perspective on this kind of thing. 

http://hem.passagen.se/thebee/waldorf/links2.htm


See the links under:

MASS MEDIA AND COMPUTERS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION

Kirby - for what its worth - I believe your friend at Design Science Toys
does have some affiliation.  Which is consistent with the kind of hands on
toys he markets.  Toys can be educational, sure.  Games can be educational,
sure. Why isn't it fairly well common sense that toys and games will be less
meaningful and therefore effective when we turn them from concrete to
virtual.  What does virtuality bring to the table?  

I am by no means endorsing all the views expressed in some of the above
links.  I am aware of the Waldorf Movement only because affiliated folks
have done some interesting, and, in my view (I am not an authority),
unimpeachable work in connection with projective geometry.  So they happen
to be on my radar, and their particular form of "resistance" is something I
can quickly put my hands on.

And I am not unwilling to find allies where I can, on this issue.

The issues here are by all reasonable standards beyond scientific
measurement, though the folks committed to this approach will, no doubt,
claim scientific justification. And have considerable success, I'm afraid.

What we are left with, really, is another front of cultural wars.  There is
a computer scientist down in Brazil vocal on these issues, whose stuff I
appreciated - but I can't re-find the link right now.

I'll bother the list with it when I do.

Art




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