Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play

by Mitchel Resnick, Ken Robinson (Foreword by)

Overview

How lessons from kindergarten can help everyone develop the creative thinking skills needed to thrive in today's society.

In kindergartens these days, children spend more time with math worksheets and phonics flashcards than building blocks and finger paint. Kindergarten is becoming more like the rest of school. In Lifelong Kindergarten, learning expert Mitchel Resnick argues for exactly the opposite: the rest of school (even the rest of life) should be more like kindergarten. To thrive in today's fast-changing world, people of all ages must learn to think and act creatively—and the best way to do that is by focusing more on imagining, creating, playing, sharing, and reflecting, just as children do in traditional kindergartens.

Drawing on experiences from more than thirty years at MIT's Media Lab, Resnick discusses new technologies and strategies for engaging young people in creative learning experiences. He tells stories of how children are programming their own games, stories, and inventions (for example, a diary security system, created by a twelve-year-old girl), and collaborating through remixing, crowdsourcing, and large-scale group projects (such as a Halloween-themed game called Night at Dreary Castle, produced by more than twenty kids scattered around the world). By providing young people with opportunities to work on projects, based on their passions, in collaboration with peers, in a playful spirit, we can help them prepare for a world where creative thinking is more important than ever before.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262536134
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	08/28/2018
Series:	The MIT Press
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	202
Sales rank:	1,156,776
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.52(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Mitchel Resnick, an expert in educational technologies, is Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab.His research group develops the Scratch programming software and online community, the world's largest coding platform for kids. He has worked closely with the LEGO company on educational ideas and products, such as the LEGO Mindstorms robotics kits, and he cofounded the Computer Clubhouse project, an international network of after-school learning centers for youth from low-income communities.

Table of Contents

Foreword Sir Ken Robinson vii

1 Creative Learning 1

2 Projects 31

3 Passion 59

4 Peers 89

5 Play 125

6 Creative Society 157

Further Readings and Resources 183

Acknowledgments 187

What People are Saying About This

John Seely Brown

This is the book I have been waiting for. Lifelong Kindergarten is filled with gems—thoughts about what learning in the 21st century needs to be like, brought to life through evocative and nuanced examples that fire up our own imaginations. Many of us have danced around this topic but no one has hit the bull's-eye like Mitch Resnick has done.

Endorsement

Mitchel Resnick has long been an inspiration to those of us who study the roots of innovative thinking. Lifelong Kindergarten is not only essential reading for educators trying to cultivate 21st century skills in the classroom; it's also a vital resource for anyone—parents, entrepreneurs, artists—interested in the creative mind at work and at play.

—Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From and How We Got to Now

From the Publisher

This is the book I have been waiting for. Lifelong Kindergarten is filled with gems—thoughts about what learning in the 21st century needs to be like, brought to life through evocative and nuanced examples that fire up our own imaginations. Many of us have danced around this topic but no one has hit the bull's-eye like Mitch Resnick has done.

—John Seely Brown, Former Chief Scientist of Xerox and Director of Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)

Whether you are a parent, educator, or academic researcher, you will delight in this book. As founder of MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten research group and creator of the programming language Scratch, Mitch Resnick not only illuminates the rich history of scholarship on creative thinking but succeeds in bringing it to life through the experiences and practices of young people around the world.

—Margaret Honey, President & CEO, New York Hall of Science

Mitchel Resnick has long been an inspiration to those of us who study the roots of innovative thinking. Lifelong Kindergarten is not only essential reading for educators trying to cultivate 21st century skills in the classroom; it's also a vital resource for anyone—parents, entrepreneurs, artists—interested in the creative mind at work and at play.

—Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From and How We Got to Now

Steven Johnson

Mitchel Resnick has long been an inspiration to those of us who study the roots of innovative thinking. Lifelong Kindergarten is not only essential reading for educators trying to cultivate 21st century skills in the classroom; it's also a vital resource for anyone—parents, entrepreneurs, artists—interested in the creative mind at work and at play.

Margaret Honey

Whether you are a parent, educator, or academic researcher, you will delight in this book. As founder of MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten research group and creator of the programming language Scratch, Mitch Resnick not only illuminates the rich history of scholarship on creative thinking but succeeds in bringing it to life through the experiences and practices of young people around the world.