Abstract
In kindergartens and early-elementary classrooms, manipulative materials (such as Cuisenaire Rods and Pattern Blocks) play an important role in childrens learning, enabling children to explore mathematical and scientific concepts (such as number, shape, and size) through direct manipulation of physical objects. But as children grow older, and learn more advanced concepts, the educational focus shifts away from direct manipulation to more abstract formal methods. This paper discusses a new generation of computationally enhanced manipulative materials, called digital manipulatives, designed to radically change this traditional progression. These new manipulatives (such as programmable building bricks and communicating beads) aim to enable children to continue to learn with a kindergarten approach even as they grow olderand also to enable young children to learn concepts (in particular, systems concepts such as feedback and emergence) that were previously considered too advanced for them.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Borovoy, R., McDonald, M., Martin, F., & Resnick, M. (1996). Things that blink: Computationally augmented name tags.IBM Systems Journal 35(3), 488–495.
Brosterman, N. (1997).Inventing Kindergarten. New York: Harry N. Adams Inc.
Colella, V., Borovoy, R., & Resnick, M. (1998). Participatory simulations: Using computational objects to learn about dynamic systems. Demonstration session,Proceedings of CHI 98, ACM Press.
Dawkins, R. (1976).The selfish gene. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gilligan, C. (1982).In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Harel, I. (1991).Children designers. Ablex Publishing. Norwood, NJ.
Ishii, H., & Ullmer, B. (1997). Tangible bits: Towards seamless interfaces between people, bits, and atoms. Paper session,Proceedings of CHI 97, ACM Press.
Jackson, S., Stratford, S., Krajcik, J., & Soloway, E. (1996). A learner-centered tool for students building modelings.Communications of the ACM 39(4), 48–49.
Kafai, Y. (1995).Minds in play: Computer game design as a context for children's learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991).Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Lehrer, R. (1993). Authors of knowledge: Patterns of hypermedia design. InComputers as Cognitive Tools, S.P. Lajoie and S.J. Derry (Eds.). Lawrence Erlbaum. Hillsdale, NJ.
Martin, F. (1994).Circuits to control: Learning engineering by designing LEGO robots. Doctoral dissertation, Cambridge, MA: MIT Media Laboratory.
Montessori, M. (1912).The Montessori method. New York: Frederick Stokes Co.
National Research Council (1996).National science education standards. Washington, DC.
Papert, S. (1980).Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. New York: Basic Books.
Papert, S. (1993).The children's machine. Basic Books. New York.
Pestalozzi, H. (1803).ABC der anschauung, oder anschauungs-lehre der massverhaltnisse. Tubingen, Germany: J.G. Cotta.
Piaget, J. (1972).The principles of genetic epistemology. New York: Basic Books.
Resnick, M. (1993). Behavior construction kits.Communications of the ACM 36(7), 65–71.
Resnick, M. (1994).Turtles, termites, and traffic jams. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Resnick, M. (1996a). Beyond the centralized mindset.Journal of the Learning Sciences, 5(1), 1–22.
Resnick, M. (1996b). Towards a practice of constructional design. In L. Schauble & R. Glaser (Eds.),Innovations in learning: New environments for education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrece Erlbaum.
Resnick, M., Berg, R., Eisenberg, M., Turkle, S., & Martin, F. (1996).Beyond black boxes: Bringing transparency and aesthetics back to scientific instruments. Proposal to the National Science Foundation. Available from MIT Media Laboratory.
Resnick, M., Bruckman, A., & Martin, F. (1996). Pianos not stereos: Creating computational construction kits.Interactions 3(6), 41–50.
Resnick, M., Martin, F., Berg, R., Borovoy, R., Colella, V., Kramer, K., & Silverman, B. (1998). Digital manipulatives: New toys to think with.Proceedings of CHI 98, ACM Press
Resnick, M., Martin, F., Sargent, R., & Silverman, B. (1996). Programmable bricks: Toys to think with.IBM Systems Journal 35(3), 443–452.
Resnick, M., & Ocko, S. (1991). LEGO/Logo: Learning through and about design. In I. Harel, & S. Papert (Eds.),Constructionism. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.
Resnick, M., & Rusk, N. (1996). The computer clubhouse: Preparing for life in a digital world.IBM Systems Journal 35(3), 431–439.
Resnick, M., & Wilensky, U. (1997). Diving into complexity: Developing probabilistic decentralized thinking through role-playing activities.Journal of the Learning Sciences 7(2).
Roberts, N., Anderson, D., Deal, R., Garet, M., & Shaffer, W. (1983).Introduction to computer simulation: A system dynamics modeling approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Schank, R. (1994). The design of goal-based scenarios.Journal for the Learning Sciences, 3(4), 303–304.
Soloway, E., Guzdial, M., and Hay, K. (1994). Learnercentered design.Interactions, 1(2), 36–48. April 1994.
Sterman, J. (1994). Learning in and about complex systems.System Dynamics Review, 10(2), 291–330.
Toffoli, T., & Margolus, N. (1987).Cellular automata machines. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Turkle, S., & Papert, S. (1990). Epistemological pluralism.Signs 16(1), 128–157.
Want, R., Hopper, A., Falcao, V., & Gibbons, J. (1992). The active badge location system.ACM Transactions on Information Systems 10(1), 91–102.
Weiser, M. (1991). The computer for the 21st century.Scientific American 265(3), 94–104.
Wellner, P., Mackay, W., & Gold, R. (1993). Computer augmented environments: Back to the real world.Communications of the ACM 36(7), 24–26.
Wilensky, U. (1991). Abstract meditations on the concrete and concrete implications for mathematics education. In I. Harel & S. Papert (Eds.),Constructionism. Norwood NJ.: Ablex Publishing Corp.
Wilensky, U. (1993).Connected mathematics: Building concrete relationships with mathematical knowledge. Doctoral dissertation, Cambridge, MA: Media Laboratory, MIT.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The Digital Manipulatives research effort has been a true group effort, with contributions from many people in the author's research group at the MIT Media Laboratory. Programmable Bricks and Crickets have been developed primarily by Fred Martin, Brian Silverman, Bakhtiar Mikhak, and Robbie Berg; BitBalls by Kwin Kramer, Robbie Berg, Fred Martin, and Rrian Silverman; Digital Beads by Kwin Kramer and Rick Borovoy; Thinking Tags by Rick Borovoy, Fred Martin, Vanessa Colella, Brian Silverman, and Kwin Kramer. The work of Seymour Papert provided a foundation and inspiration for many of these projects. This research has been supported by generous grants from the LEGO Group, the National Science Foundation (grants 9358519-RED and CDA-9616444), and the MIT Media Laboratory's Things That Think, Digital Life, and Toys of Tomorrow consortia. Portions of this paper previously appeared in a paper in the proceedings of the CHI 98 conference (Resnick, et al., 1998).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Resnick, M. Technologies for lifelong kindergarten. ETR&D 46, 43–55 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299672
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299672