Thanks for digging out the links on Doreen, pocketed both.
But am I reading GP wrong that it wasn't constructionist education proper that failed, but a "let's do things with laptops" being retconned onto constructivism?
at the time i had the impression that not much thought was given on how to implement education using the laptops. looking at it now, i have the impression that the expectation was that the mere existence of the laptops would allow for constructionist education to happen all by itself.
i don't know enough about constructionist education to know what factors ought to be present, but i can't imagine that an education system and teachers that do not understand or do not want constructionist education aren't a problem.
i also believe that OLPC didn't sell constructionist education to the buyers, nor that the buyers wanted to start using constructionist education.
i have the impression that it was rather hoped that constructionist education would not only happen by itself but also undermine the existing education system in that it flourishes despite the existing system.
in the end the failure was that the expectations of parents, teachers and others in the education system were not met.
one might argue that the failure was to not educate the buyers on what to expect, but then i can't imagine that OLPC would have successfully sold anything if they had tried to sell constructionist education along with it.
i don't know enough about constructionist education to know what factors ought to be present, but i can't imagine that an education system and teachers that do not understand or do not want constructionist education aren't a problem.
i also believe that OLPC didn't sell constructionist education to the buyers, nor that the buyers wanted to start using constructionist education.
i have the impression that it was rather hoped that constructionist education would not only happen by itself but also undermine the existing education system in that it flourishes despite the existing system.
in the end the failure was that the expectations of parents, teachers and others in the education system were not met.
one might argue that the failure was to not educate the buyers on what to expect, but then i can't imagine that OLPC would have successfully sold anything if they had tried to sell constructionist education along with it.