MIT Prof.Sees Computer Classrooms in Future

In the future, childhood education will be more effective over the Internet than in the traditional classroom setting, said Seymour Papert, LEGO Professor of Learning Research at MIT, speaking to an audience of 150 at the Graduate School of Education last night.

Papert spoke about his latest book, The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap, in which he discusses how the rapid growth of information available on the World Wide Web has affected traditional learning methods.

Reading and classroom learning are no longer the only paths to knowledge, Papert said.

"We now have a generation of kids growing up with computers around them and able to become free exploratory learners," he said.

Papert, who invented the "LOGO" computer language and co-founded the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, said computers and the Internet provide children with new tools to obtain answers to their questions without the guidance of parents or teachers.

The "digital" generation gap between parents and children has grown in recent years as children learn computer skills and "get around the parent" Papert said.

The development of new approaches for parenting and teaching to keep pace with technology-dependent learning will be necessary in the future, according to Papert.

The role of the school and teachers in a child's education will change significantly in the future, he said.

"Children are starting to demand more from school than school demands from them," Papert said. "They come into school as a resource, knowing there is a better way to obtain knowledge."

Papert asked the educators in the audience to recognize the growing discrepancy between traditional school curricula and a young society shaped by unlimited access to information.

"We are experiencing the growth of an army of kids who will change education," he said.