AI is generating quite a bit of buzz these day. Perhaps you are unaware that Constructing Modern Knowledge has AI roots and has been AI-adjacent since its inception in 2008. This August’s institute is no exception. One can no longer imagine the learning adventures found at Constructing Modern Knowledge without AI, machine learning, or chatbots providing construction material.
Skip ahead to read 5 ways CMK has roots in AI
Constructing Modern Knowledge was borne of conversations between Gary Stager and Seymour Papert about the need to create a setting where educational computing and progressive education could dance together. Papert, the father of educational computing, helped Piaget understand how children construct mathematical knowledge, was a pioneer in artificial intelligence and a founding member of the MIT Media Lab, was the co-inventor of the Logo programming language, and authored three of the most important books about learning and computing.
Although the Logo programming language was born at Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, it was raised and developed from infancy in the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the late 1960s and 1970s. MIT Computer Science Professor Hal Abelson described the ethos of the “Lab” at the time as focused on the notion that “computers are for children.” Understanding better how children learn and learn while computing helped inform the early development of artificial intelligence. This serves one of the many examples of the phenomena Papert described as, “You can’t think about thinking without thinking about thinking about something.”
Just some of the ideas pioneered at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and in its Logo Research Group include: children programming computers, computational making, physical computing, probes and external hardware, as well as personal computing. In today’s world, Scratch, maker spaces, classroom robotics, science-based labs, and 1:1 computing in the form of student laptops are some of the fruit of the MIT AI Lab tree.
Two of our books, detail this remarkable legacy.
Fundamentally, Papert framed two competing views of education as instructionism vs. constructionism. Instructionism posits that learning is the result of having been taught. It focuses on things like, instruction, curriculum, testing, and the intervention of teachers. Constructionism is built on the Piagetian notion that knowledge is a consequence of experience and the idea that people learn by constructing knowledge through the process of making something shareable. Simply stated, the learner learns.
The same paradigm may be applied to how AI is envisioned for schools. Instructionists tout the use of AI for lesson plan writing, marking student work, teacher record keeping, and the production of instructional materials, including worksheets, quizzes, flashcards, and tests. Constructionists are unconcerned with using technology to sustain questionable instructional practices, even when they are made more efficient.
Since the 1960s, Seymour Papert and constructionists have offered a profoundly aspirational and learner-centered vision of artificial intelligence in education. Those seeking a humane learner-centered vision of AI would be wise to read Chapter 7 of Seymour Papert’s seminal book, Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. That chapter is titled, “LOGO’s Roots: Piaget and AI”
Here are two particularly relevant passages from Mindstorms.
Suffice to say, Constructing Modern Knowledge was cool long before AI was cool.
5 Ways in Which CMK has its Roots in AI
#1 – Logo
The roots of CMK are in Logo, the programming language and approach to learning designed for children, primarily by Seymour Papert and CMK Senior Fellow, Cynthia Solomon. Soon after its initial creation, Logo was nurtured in the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the late 1960s and 1970s. The programming environments powering CMK projects are descendent of Logo, including: Scratch, SNAP!, Turtle Art, TurtleStitch, MakeCode, microBlocks, and Beetle Blocks.
Learn about Logo and explore a growing library of resources here.
#2 – Marvin Minsky
Marvin Minsky, considered by many to be the “father of artificial intelligence” led a fireside chat at the first ten Constructing Modern Knowledge institutes. We were indeed spoiled to spend time in the company of one of the great minds of the past century and are grateful for Marvin’s generosity and willingness to engage educators in discussion.
#3 – Expertise
If we wish for students to learn with primary source materials, teachers should learn with experts. Dr. Stephen Wolfram, one of the world’s most significant scientists and creator of the tools powering the AI revolution has been a guest speaker at Constructing Modern Knowledge twice. While he will not be with us in Australia, his software tools and inspiration will.
#4 – Marvin Minsky on Education
CMK Senior Fellow, Dr. Cynthia Solomon, assembled a fantastic volume of essays by AI pioneer, Marvin Minsky. Constructing Modern Knowledge Founder, Gary Stager, was honored to contribute one of the expert response essays in the book, Inventive Minds – Marvin Minsky on Education.
Learn more about the mother of educational technology, Cynthia Solomon, here.
#5 – Inventing “Intelligent” Systems
Since its inception, projects at Constructing Modern Knowledge have included attempts to build “thinking” machines with sensors, feedback, and code.
Participants have built shoes that when clicked together call an Uber, stair climbing autonomous vacuum cleaners, and smart helmets…
Here’s a video of a robot fortune teller project.
#6 – Bonus! New Book!
Constructing Modern Knowledge Press just published a fantastic new AI book for educators by Dr. Ken Kahn. Ken was a member of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in the early 1970s and has been working at the intersection of learning, computing, child development, and artificial intelligence. His new book, The Learner’s Apprentice: AI and the Amplification of Human Creativity, features hundreds of project ideas sure to delight, intrigue, and inspire.
