Maker of Powerful Ideas
A mathematician who put children in command of the computer. Turtles, programs and things made by hand became ways to think about thinking.
Mathematician & Pioneer of Constructionist Learning
Papert brought mathematics, learning theory and computing into conversation. Computers could give children a material for exploring an idea, seeing a result and changing their approach.
Logo emerged through a collaborative effort that included Cynthia Solomon and Wally Feurzeig. Its turtle made instructions visible: a learner could reason about a path by imagining how to walk it.
Mindstorms describes a relationship with computers centred on the learner’s agency. Programming and debugging become ways to examine one’s own thinking.
Papert’s constructionism emphasises making things that can be shared, discussed and revised. The question is not simply whether an answer is correct, but what the learner can build and come to understand through building it.
Papert died in 2016. His influence continues through learning communities, creative programming and the ongoing question of what children should be able to do with computers.
Begin with Mindstorms, then compare its ambition with Kay’s Dynabook. Both ask what happens when a person can shape the medium they learn through.
Seymour Papert · MIT Media Lab
The complete text, posted by MIT with permission from Papert’s family.Read the authorised text1970 · Seymour Papert · Original paper
Read the work1991 · Seymour Papert & Idit Harel
Read the work1990 · Sherry Turkle & Seymour Papert
Read the workSeymour Papert · Essay on learning and challenge
Read the workSeymour Papert · Research proposal
Read the work1971 · Seymour Papert & Cynthia Solomon · MIT AI memo
Explore the workSeymour Papert · Thinking about the school of the future
Explore the work1980 · Seymour Papert · Foreword to Mindstorms
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Alan KayLearning theory meets the design of the Dynabook
Bret VictorProgramming environments that make thinking visible