Seymour Papert

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.

Turtle Geometry: Makes an abstract idea move across a page.
Think by Making: Builds understanding through things you create.
Friendly Debugging: Turns a mistake into something to investigate.

19282016

Seymour Papert

Mathematician & Pioneer of Constructionist Learning

History of computing · Learning by making Start hereMindstorms: the textThe complete text, posted by MIT with permission from Papert’s family.Read the authorised text

1960s

Let the learner give the instructions

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.

1980

A thing to think with

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.

Mindstorms book cover — Explore the book

2016

The learner remains at the centre

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.