Article Contentsp. 43p. 44p. 45p. 46p. 47p. 48p. 49p. 50p. 51p. 52p. 53p. 54p. 55Issue Table of ContentsEducational Technology Research and Development, Vol. 46, No. 4 (1998), pp. 1-128Volume InformationFront MatterResearchContemporary Developments in Educational Technology Design and Evaluation: Introduction to Special Issue [pp. 5-6]The Pursuit of Useable Knowledge in Instructional Technology [pp. 7-22]Emergent Patterns of Teaching/Learning in Electronic Classrooms [pp. 23-42]Technologies for Lifelong Kindergarten [pp. 43-55]DevelopmentIntroduction to the Special Issue on Training [pp. 56-57]The Cognitive Approach to Training Development: A Practitioner's Assessment [pp. 58-72]Potential Knowledge Management Contributions to Human Performance Technology Research and Practice [pp. 73-89]Kirkpatrick Plus: Evaluation and Continuous Improvement with a Community Focus [pp. 90-96]User-Design: A Case Application in Health Care Training [pp. 97-114]Designing Communities of Learners for Asynchronous Distance Education [pp. 115-122]Book ReviewReview: untitled [pp. 123-125]Back MatterTechnologies for Lifelong KindergartenAuthor(s): Mitchel ResnickSource: Educational Technology Research and Development, Vol. 46, No. 4 (1998), pp. 43-55Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30220216Accessed: 17/03/2010 20:39Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. 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For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected] is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Educational TechnologyResearch and Development.http://www.jstor.orgTechnologies for Lifelong Kindergarten Mitchel Resnick In kindergartens and early-elementary class- rooms, manipulative materials (such as Cuise- naire 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 ofcomputationally enhanced manipulative materials, called digital manipu- latives, designed to radically change this tradi- tional 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 consid- ered too advanced for them. O In 1837 in Germany, Friedrich Froebel cre- ated the world's first kindergarten. Froebel's school was an important departure from previ- ous educational institutions not only in the age of its students, but in its educational approach. Froebel had been deeply influenced by Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who argued that children need to learn through their senses and through physical activity. In Pestalozzi's words: "things before words, con- crete before abstract" (Pestalozzi, 1803). In sharp contrast with previous schools, Froebel put physical objects and physical activity at the core of his kindergarten. He developed a set of 20 so- called "gifts"-objects such as balls, blocks, and sticks for children to use in the kindergarten. Froebel carefully designed these gifts to help children recognize and appreciate common pat- terns and forms found in nature. Froebel's gifts and ideas were eventually distributed through- out the world, deeply influencing the develop- ment of generations of young children. Some historians argue that Froebel's gifts deeply influ- enced the course of 20th century art; indeed, Frank Lloyd Wright credited his boyhood expe- riences with Froebel's gifts as the foundation of his architecture (Brosterman, 1997). Today's kindergartens are still full of physi- cal objects and physical activity. Walk into a kin- dergarten, and you are likely to see a diverse collection of manipulative materials such as Cui- senaire Rods and Pattern Blocks. As children build and experiment with these manipulative materials, they develop deeper understandings of mathematical concepts such as number, size, and shape. As children play with Cuisenaire Rods, for example, they discover that one brown rod is the same length as two purple rods (or four red ones)and, in the process, they begin to develop a framework for thinking about frac- tions and proportions. ETR&D, Vol. 46, No. 4, 1998, pp. 43-55 ISSN 1042-1629 4344 ETR&D, Vol 46, No. 4 But as children move on through elementary school and into secondary school, they have fewer interactions with manipulative materials. One reason: many important concepts are very difficult (if not impossible) to explore with tradi- tional manipulative materials. For example, tra- ditional manipulatives generally do not help children learn about the behavior of dynamic systems--how patterns arise through dynamic interactions among component parts. Such sys- tems-related concepts are typically taught through more formal methods, involving abstract mathematical formalisms. Unfortu- nately, many students have difficulty with this approach, and thus never develop deep under- standings of these concepts (Resnick, 1994; Ster- man, 1994). This paper discusses how the successful kin- dergarten strategy of learning-through-manipu- lation can be extended to