Facilitation · Ongoing programs or intensive 1-day 'sprints'

Eight Big Ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Laboratory

A set of guiding principles for creating hands-on, constructionist environments where learners take charge of their own education through interest-driven projects. It focuses on the mindset of both the learner and the facilitator in a technology-rich setting.

When to use Eight Big Ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Laboratory

When setting up maker spaces, innovation labs, or designing curriculum for self-directed learning environments.

How Eight Big Ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Laboratory works

Use these ideas as a checklist for session design: ensure learners are making something they want (Idea 1), allow for 'hard fun' (Idea 3), and explicitly model the struggle of learning (Idea 7).

Phases of Eight Big Ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Laboratory

  1. Learning by Doing
  2. Technology as Building Material
  3. Hard Fun
  4. Learning to Learn
  5. Taking the Time
  6. Getting it Right by Getting it Wrong
  7. Making Ourselves what we Make our Students
  8. Entering a Digital World

Key principles

  • Learner autonomy and time management
  • The necessity of 'bugs' and errors in the learning process
  • Facilitator transparency in their own learning journey
  • Digital fluency as a medium for learning all subjects

Best for

  • Maker education
  • Self-directed professional development
  • Engineering and design thinking
  • Growth mindset cultivation

Considerations

  • Learners accustomed to traditional 'teaching' may initially struggle with the lack of structure
  • Facilitators must be comfortable not having all the answers
  • Time management is often the most difficult skill for learners to master in this framework

Attribution & sources

Developed by Dr. Seymour Papert, documented by Gary Stager (1999)

Primary source

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