MIT Professor from Haverford Helps Kids Learn Through Play

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Image of Mitchel Resnick via Princeton Alumni Weekly.

Mitchel Resnick, a Haverford High School graduate and MIT’s LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research, helps kids learn through play, writes David Walter for Princeton Alumni Weekly.

For the last three decades, Resnick has been working with LEGO to create toys that support creative learning, such as LEGO’s Mindstorms, a range of robotic building blocks.

Ten years ago, Resnick and his team invented Scratch, a computer coding platform that has evolved from a simple toy into a completely new language used by millions of children worldwide for thinking, playing, and creating.


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Resnick chose computer coding for Scratch because it is cheaper and easier to distribute across the globe. It also makes it easier for users to rapidly make and undo mistakes on their way to perfection, something Resnick believes is crucial to design-based learning.

“So much of the education system is top-down,” he said. “We need to give kids greater leeway to find their own path.”

Resnick and his MIT team are now getting ready to release Scratch 3.0 next year. Along with new features, it will also be the first version available for smartphones and tablets.

Read more about Mitchel Resnick’s work in Princeton Alumni Weekly by clicking here.

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