Seymour Papert

Quotes

• “Should the computer program the kid or should the kid program the computer?”
• “Many children who grow up in our cities are surrounded by the artifacts of science but have good reason to see them as belonging to "the others"; in many cases they are perceived as belonging to the social enemy.”
• “In many schools today, the phrase "computer-aided instruction" means making the computer teach the child. One might say the computer is being used to program the child. In my vision, the child programs the computer and, in doing so, both acquires a sense of master over a piece of the most modern and powerful technology and establishes an intimate contact with some of the deepest ideas from science, from mathematics, and from the art of intellectual model building.”
• “One might ask why the teachers do not notice the difficulty children have in learning BASIC. The answer is simple: Most teachers do not expect high performance from most students, especially in a domain of work that appears to be as "mathematical" and "formal" as programming. Thus the culture's general perception of mathematics as inaccessible bolsters the maintenance of BASIC, which in turn confirms these perceptions.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born

Seymour Aubrey Papert , ( 1928-02-29 ) 29 February 1928, Pretoria , Union of South Africa

Died

31 July 2016 (2016-07-31) (aged 88), Blue Hill, Maine , U.S.

Alma mater

University of the Witwatersrand ( BA , PhD) University of Cambridge (PhD)

Known for

Perceptrons Artificial intelligence Logo programming language One Laptop per Child Papert's principle

Spouses

Dona Strauss Androula Henriques Sherry Turkle Suzanne Massie

Fields

Cognitive science , Education, Mathematics, Computer science

Institutions

Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Geneva University of Paris National Physical Laboratory

Theses

Sequential Convergence in Lattices with Special Reference To Modular and Subgroup Lattices (1952) The Lattices of Logic and Topology (1960)

Doctoral advisor

Frank Smithies

Doctoral students

Idit Harel Caperton Carl Hewitt Mitchel Resnick Edwina Rissland David Williamson Shaffer Gerald Jay Sussman Terry Winograd

Website

papert .org

via Wikipedia infobox

Key dates

Born

29 February 1928

Died

31 July 2016

via Wikidata · CC0

Wikidata facts

Instance of

human

Gender

male

Citizenship

United States

Place of birth

Pretoria

Place of death

Blue Hill

Spouse

Sherry Turkle

Educated at

University of Cambridge

Employer

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Political party

Socialist Workers Party

Languages spoken

English language

Award

Marconi Prize

Notable work

Lego Mindstorms

Academic degree

doctorate

Doctoral advisor

Jean Piaget

Field of work

cognitive science

Official website

www.papert.org

Image

Seymour Papert.jpg

Residence

United States

via Wikidata · CC0