Future Visions of Education Inspired by Seymour Papert and Cynthia Solomon’s Seminal Work
by Gary Stager, foreword by Cynthia Solomon
In 1971, Cynthia Solomon and Seymour Papert published Twenty Things to Do with a Computer, a revolutionary document that would set the course of education for the next fifty years and beyond. This book, Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50, is a celebration of the vision set forth by Papert and Solomon a half-century ago. Four dozen experts from around the world invite us to consider the original provocations, reflect on their implementation, and chart a course for the future through personal recollections, learning stories, and imaginative scenarios.
Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50 can inspire parents, educators, and aspiring teachers to make the world a better place for learning.
The impact of Twenty Things is all around us. In 1971, Solomon and Papert predicted 1:1 personal computing, the maker movement, the rise of computational thinking, children programming computers, robotic construction kits, computer science for all, and integrating computing across the curriculum. All of this, years, or even decades, before such notions became more commonplace.
In fewer than thirty pages, Twenty Things to Do with a Computer introduced readers to an exciting world in which children use computers they own to create, solve problems, control their world, and bring powerful ideas to life across subject areas. More importantly, Twenty Things situates the ideals of progressive education in a modern context. Papert and Solomon demonstrated how computing could be creative, humane, whimsical, childlike, and a way to learn “everything else,” even ideas at the frontiers of mathematics and science.
Contributors to this book include scholars and tech pioneers who worked with Papert and Solomon in the 1970s, phenomenal classroom teachers, inventors, researchers, school administrators, university professors, and educational technology leaders. Essays in this collection offer multiple pathways for school reform. Authors include Cynthia Solomon, Sugata Mitra, Conrad Wolfram, Audrey Watters, David Thornburg, David Loader, Yasmin Kafai, Dale Dougherty, Nettrice Gaskins, Dan Lynn Watt, Molly Lynn Watt, Gary Stager, Artemis Papert, Stephen Heppell, along with forty other brilliant thinkers and legendary educators.
Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50 is an effort to preserve a historical document and share it with future of generations seeking a more creative, personal, empowering, and meaningful educational experience for young people.
This book is a must-read for:
- Educators
- School leaders
- Preservice teachers
- Teacher educators
- Policymakers
- Librarians
- Technology developers
- Parents
Available at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble online. Books can be purchased through Ingram. Contact CMK Press for volume sales information
Book information
Paperback
- MSRP $34.95 USD paperback
- 416 pages, black and white
- Publisher: Constructing Modern Knowledge Press
- Language: English
- ISBN: 978-1-955604-00-0
- Product Dimensions: 7 x 10 inches
Hardcover
- MSRP $59.95 USD paperback
- 416 pages
- Publisher: Constructing Modern Knowledge Press
- Language: English
- ISBN: 978-1-955604-01-7
- Product Dimensions: 7 x 10 inches
Contact us for volume sales information
Resources
- CITE Journal article, TurtleStitching: At Least Twenty Things to Do With a Computer and a Computerized Embroidery Machine, by Cynthia Solomon and Susan Klimczak
- CITE Journal article, Twenty Things to Do With a Computer – Fifty Years Later, by Gary Stager
- CITE Journal article, “Twenty Things to Do With a Computer” Revisited, by Glen Bull, N. Rich Nguyen, Jo Watts, Rachel Gibson, & Michael Littman
Additional reading and resources supporting the book
Table of Contents
View the book’s Table of Contents
Contributors
| Dimitris Alimisis, PhD | EDUMOTIVA |
| Yvonne Marie Andrés, EdD | GlobalSchoolNet.org |
| Eleonora Badilla-Saxe, EdD | Rector at the Universidad Castro Carazo |
| Walter Bender | Sorcero, Sugar Labs, ReMake Music |
| Miles Berry | University of Roehampton |
| Karen J. Billings, EdD | Principal, BillingsConnects |
| Paulo Blikstein, PhD | Associate Professor, Columbia University |
| Giulio Bonanome | Unicorni Team |
| Ron Canuel | Independent Education Strategist |
| David Cavallo, PhD | Director, Centro de Innovación y Diseño Avanzado (Cinnda, Chile) & Researcher at the Inst. of Adv. Studies, USP |
| Angi Chau, PhD | The Nueva School |
| Donna Collins | St. John Regional School, Concord NH and University of New Hampshire |
| Dale Dougherty | Make: Community |
| Carolyn Foote | Library Consultant and free range librarian |
| Nettrice Gaskins, PhD | Lesley University |
| Geraldine (Gerry) Kozberg | Deputy Superintendent, St. Paul, Minnesota Public Schools; Director, Logo Foundation |
| Dennis O. Harper, PhD | CEO of Generation YES Corporation |
| Stephen Heppell | Professor, The Felipe Segovia Chair of Learning Innovation at Universidad Camilo José Cela, Madrid |
| Cathy Hunt | Teacher, Author, International Speaker, and Creative Educational Design Specialist |
| Yasmin B. Kafai, EdD | University of Pennsylvania |
| Ken Kahn, PhD | University of Oxford |
| Bill Kerr, EdD | St. Philips College, Alice Springs, Australia |
| Susan Klimczak, EdD | Learn 2 Teach, Teach 2 Learn, Mel King Fab Lab, Madison Park Technical Vocational High School |
| Tom Lauwers, PhD | BirdBrain Technologies LLC |
| Martin Levins | Lecturer, University of New England, Australia |
| David Loader OAM | Hon Assoc Professor, University of Melbourne |
| Angela Sofia Lombardo | Unicorni Team |
| Tom Lough, PhD | Logo Exchange Founder |
| Leo McElroy | Independent |
| Fred Martin, PhD | University of Massachusetts Lowell |
| Sugata Mitra, PhD | Retired Professor, Newcastle University, UK |
| Michele Moro | Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, University of Padua, Italy |
| Jennifer Orr | Fort Belvoir Upper School, Fairfax County Public Schools |
| Heather Allen Pang, PhD | Castilleja School |
| Artemis Papert | Independent artist |
| Carmelo Presicce | Lifelong Kindergarten – MIT Media Lab |
| Peter Rawitsch | Retired educator and activist |
| Marian B Rosen | Retired: St Louis City & Ladue Public Schools |
| Bryan P. Sanders, EdD | Loyola Marymount University |
| Evgenia (Jenny) Sendova, PhD | Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences |
| Cynthia Solomon, EdD | Co-author, Twenty Things to Do with a Computer |
| Gary Stager, PhD | CEO, Constructing Modern Knowledge |
| John Stetson | Southern Maine Community College |
| Carol Sperry Sużiedėlis, EdD | Millersville University of Pennsylvania |
| Kate Tabor | Francis W. Parker School, Chicago |
| David D. Thornburg, PhD | Thornburg Center |
| John Umekubo | Educator, Maker, Founder LumenSparQ |
| José Armando Valente, PhD | State University of Campinas – UNICAMP |
| Justice Toshiba Walker, PhD | The University of Texas at El Paso College of Education |
| Dan Lynn Watt, PhD | Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement & Cambridge Co-housing |
| Molly Lynn Watt | Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement & Cambridge Co-housing |
| Audrey Watters | Hack Education |
| Conrad Wolfram | Wolfram Research Europe |
