Resnick

1. Resnick, M. Edutainment? No thanks. I prefer playful learning. In Associatzione Cicita. 1,1 (2004), 2- 4.

2. Mitchel Resnick, LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research and head of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, explores how new technologies can engage people in creative learning experiences. Resnick's research group developed the "programmable brick" technology that inspired the LEGO Mindstorms robotics kit. He co-founded the Computer Clubhouse project, a worldwide network of after-school centers where youth from low-income communities learn to express themselves creatively with new technologies. Resnick's group also developed Scratch, an online community where children program and share interactive stories, games, and animations. He earned a BA in physics at Princeton University (1978), and MS and PhD degrees in computer science at MIT (1988, 1992). He worked as a science-technology journalist from 1978 to 1983, and he has consulted throughout the world on creative uses of computers in education. He is author of Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams (1994), co-editor of Constructionism in Practice (1996), and co-author of Adventures in Modeling (2001). In 2011, Resnick was awarded the McGraw Prize in Education.

3. The topics of the text are learning, education, entertainment, play, and “edutainment”.

4. The main argument of the text is that edutainment views education as a bitter medicine that needs the sugar-coating of entertainment to become palatable. They provide entertainment as a reward if you are willing to suffer through a little education. Or they boast that you will have so much fun using their products that you won’t even realize that you are learning – as if learning were the most unpleasant experience in the world.

5. Three ways the argument is supported:a. The case study of the 11 year old Alexandria learning more with a marble-machine she created than with a traditional “scientific-method” science fair project supports the author’s point.

b. Singapore’s Science Center put on a nationwide robotics competition to encourage creative thinking. The kids learned a lot but teachers were horrified with the author suggested the integration of such activities into the normal curriculum, even though the government had made it a priority to address the lack of creative thinking in its children. The author’s point is supported with this example through the obvious engagement the Singaporean students displayed when they were working and playing at the same time.

c. The author says that people view education as a bitter medicine that needs the sugar-coating of entertainment to become palatable. He argues that now people provide entertainment as a reward if you are willing to suffer through a little education. Or they boast that you will have so much fun using their products that you won’t even realize that you are learning – as if learning were the most unpleasant experience in the world. This directly supports his argument as examples as to why “edutainment” is more harmful than helpful.

6. Three quotes:a. Too often, designers and educators try to make things “easy” for learners, thinking that people are attracted to things that are easy to do. But that is not the case. Mihaly Csikszentmihályi (1991) has found that people become most deeply engaged in activities that are challenging, but not overwhelming. Similarly, Seymour Papert has found that learners become deeply engaged by “hard fun” – in other words, learners don’t mind activities that are hard as long as the activities connect deeply with their interests and passions (Papert, 1993).

b. Children’s museum and science museums have a long and successful tradition of hands on activities that help children learn through playful exploration and inquiry. As Howard Gardner writes in his book The Unschooled Mind (1991): “As institutions, schools have become increasingly anachronistic, while museums have retained the potential to engage students, to teach them, to stimulate their understanding, and, most important, to help them assume responsibility for their own future learning.”

c. When people think about “education” and “entertainment,” they tend to think of them as services that someone else provides for you. Studios, directors, and actors provide you with entertainment; schools and teachers provide you with education. New edutainment companies try to provide you with both. In all of these cases, you are viewed as a passive recipient. That’s a distorted view. In fact, you are likely to learn the most, and enjoy the most, if you are engaged as an active participant, not a passive recipient.

7. Three questions:a. What are more concrete examples besides the marble machine? What formal studies have been done for this particular argument?

b. Why aren’t institutions traditionally considered “edutainment” like Epcot valid as examples of playful learning when children are experiencing the same kind of hands-on learning as they would in a science museum (for example, the aquarium exhibit)? Should playful learning be the only kind of learning alternative to just focusing on the “core subjects”, as the Singaporean teachers put it?

c. What are the negative effects of edutainment in action?

8. Three future investigations:a. The Singapore Science Center is a great science museum. I would like to look more into the programs they put on for the local community.

b. I would like to see what other projects the MIT Media Lab is working on.

c. I would also like to see what other kids have been able to accomplish through the author’s program, The Computer Clubhouse and if the success of Alexandria is just as prevalent with other kids.