How to Learn (Almost) Anything

Readings

WEEK #	TOPICS	Readings
1	Introduction and Overview
2	Learning Through Making	“The PIE Network: Promoting Science Inquiry and Engineering through Playful Invention and Exploration with New Digital Technologies.” Proposal to the National Science Foundation, 2000. Resnick, M., R. Berg, and M. Eisenberg. “Beyond Black Boxes: Bringing Transparency and Aesthetics Back to Scientific Investigation.” Journal of the Learning Sciences 9, no. 1 (2000): 7-30.
3	Learning from One Another	Gardner, H. The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach. Basic Books, 1989. Chapters 6, 10, 11, pp. 200-210.
4	Apprenticeship Learning	Brown, J. S., A. Collins, and P. Duguid. “Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning.” Educational Researcher 18, no. 1 (1989): 32-42.
5	Powerful Ideas and Fluency	Papert, S. “What’s the Big Idea: Towards a Pedagogy of Idea Power.” IBM Systems Journal 39, no. 3-4 (1991).
6	Learning “On Your Own”	Selected readings from the Growing Without Schooling newsletter. Holt, John. Learning All the Time. Addison Wesley Publishing Company, August 1, 1990. ISBN: 9780201550917.
7	Choosing Your Tools (and Fluency with Tools)	Martin, F. “The Art of LEGO Design.” The Robotics Practitioner: The Journal for Robot Builders 1, no. 2 (1995). Resnick, M., A. Bruckman, and F. Martin. “Pianos Not Stereos: Creating Computational Construction Kits.” Interactions 3, no. 6 (1996): 64-71. Martin, F., B. Mikhak, and B. Silverman. “MetaCricket: A Designer’s Kit for Making Computational Devices.” IBM Systems Journal 39, no. 3-4 (2001).
8	Documenting and Evaluating Activities	Duckworth, E. “The Having of Wonderful Ideas.” Harvard Educational Review 42, no. 2 (1972): 217-231. Selected readings from a collection of books on the Reggio Emilia Approach: Katz, L. G., and B. Cesarone, eds. Reflections on the Reggio Emilia Approach. St. Paul, U.S.: Redleaf Press, 1994. ISBN: 9788886277686. Ceppi, G., and M. Zini, eds. Children, Spaces, Relations: Metaproject for an Environment for Young Children. Reggio: Reggio S.R.L., 1998. The Fountains: The Unheard Voice of Children. Reggio: Reggio S.R.L., 1995. Edwards, Carolyn, George Forman, and Lella Gandini, eds. The Hundred Languages of Children. Stanford, CT: Ablex Publishing, 1998. ISBN: 9781567503111.
9	Diane Willow: Learning as Space, Place and Environment	Tuan, Yi-Fu. Chapter 9 in Topophilia; A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes, and Values. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, November 1, 1990. ISBN: 9780231073950. Orr, David W. Chapter 8 in Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World. New York: SUNY Press, January 1, 1992. ISBN: 9780791408742. Hiss, Tony. Chapter 2 in The Experience of Place: A New Way of Looking at and Dealing With our Radically Changing Cities and Countryside. New York, NY: Vintage Press, October 1, 1991. ISBN: 9780679735946. Readings Online: Chawla, Louise. “Ecstatic Places.” Children’s Environments Quarterly, 1990, 7 (4): 18-23. Vecchi, Vea. “What kind of space for living well in school?” in Ceppi, G., and M. Zini, eds. Children, Spaces, Relations: Metaproject for an Environment for Young Children. Reggio: Reggio S.R.L., 1998.
10	Design vs. Craft
11	Discussion of Plans for First-round Workshops
12	Reports on First and Second Round Workshops
13	Workshops for One Another
14	Final Project Reports Due, and Workshops for the Media Lab