The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap

If you are a parent or a teacher you need to read this. Papert is one of the few people in the world who understands the power of the computer and how it could be harvest by children. This book is his family friendly version of Mindstorm, his masterpiece on computer and education.What you need to know is that Papert doesn't believe in software that will substitute teachers and textbooks. He defends, since 1960's, that the computer is a powerful tool by itself, but you and your children need to be able to unleash its power.

Good value

Children will learn more, given the chance, by random exploration on a computer than by directed lessons or "educational software." There, I've saved you the trouble of reading "The Connected Family," which does little more than play variations on this tune for 200 pages.Papert is an important figure in early learning circles, though his Piaget-inspired faith in undirected learning may strain your credulity. The point that computers encourage non-linear exploration is well-founded (just ask anyone who has lost a day on the internet) and designers of kids software should pay heed, since they often treat the computer as just another linear information-delivery vehicle. But Papert's book here is itself rather long on repetition and short on insight, much like the software Papert decries.Several stories from Papert's own family and friends are used to illustrate his basic theme. Don't get me wrong, it's charming and likable (hence two stars instead of one) but ultimately a little thin in the content department.

I recommend this book to parents who want to re-think how they interact with their children or grandchildren so they can understand this new generation. "Children love technology because they can control it as parents love to have control of them". This computer generation has brought changes even in the way we interact in families. The objective of this book is how to get parents connected with their children in this 21st century.One of the advantages that this book has is that it shows examples that can help parents connect with their children and grandchildren. How parents can build a relationship with their children expressing their care and love through learning with joy and laughter. In this way parents are connect and build a bridge to their children or grandchildren with this new home-learning style. Children will feel great and will appreciate it and parents will find the niche to share things with them.This change from a family-oriented position to a family's learning culture is Seymour Papert's objective as is featured in this webplace : [...] It guides and gives ideas to parents regarding what kind of computer activities children should be using in this new information age.The disadvantage is that some of the educational examples are more than 15 years old . His goal is for parents and educators to think critically and see how learning is changing and that nowadays there is a new learning culture.

Seymour Papert's The Connected Family is better suited toteachers than parents, since its chief criticism concerns schools' useof computers. He seems to believe that since schools are doing such a poor job of finding new and innovative uses for computers, he will target families in an attempt to allow children at least some positive experience with computers. While this is not a bad idea, I think his time would be better spent encouraging schools to rethink their use of computers. Certainly families should develop common interests and work together on projects, but children spend so much more time in school that changes there are likely to have a greater impact. I hope that many teachers find the time to read this book and consider making changes in their use of computers.Teachers of very young students often recognize exploration as legitimate learning, but as the age of the student increases, the tendency is to decrease the time spent on exploration and increase time spent on instruction. This is done in the quest for efficiency in spite of the fact that we all know the most powerful lessons in life come from experience (exploring and experimenting.) It is Papert's idea that computers are best used as alternate universes in which students can continue to explore and experiment.It used to be that you could explore a piece of technology and learn how it worked (picture peering into a manual typewriter,) but with increasing reliance on microprocessors this is laregly untrue today (picture peering inside your PC.) Papert's ideal of learning through exploration cannot occur when the working of the world is opaque. His solution for computers is to ignore the hardware (it is hopelessly opaque) and focus instead software. Don't ask children to merely use software but ask them to program a computer. This will reveal the workings of the digital age and remove some of the mystery of computers.Papert poses some interesting ideas in this teaser of a book. I'd like to see more work done towards developing the type of software he imagines. The book's web site ... may have once had some of this, but it has now been replaced by ... a kid-oriented, but very limited site ...

What I like best about Papert's book is the attitude of respect toward children, parents, and the learning potential of families. He is an advocate for learning in non-traditional ways. The calm tone of the book and its overall good sense when talking about learning, intelligence, "learning disabilities," and the politics of School (his capitalization) are very helpful.To anyone who is worried about computers and children; To anyone who is enthusiastic about children and computers; To anyone who really wanted to understand computers and their potential better; I recommend this book.I teach developmental psychology at Ivy Tech State College; I also homeschool two sons who have never been at a conventional school.

I was part of the team in 1969. Papert was an intellectual giant.

Interesting but not sure it is relevant to my studies