After all, the roots of experiential, hands-on learning are well established, dating back to the second industrial revolution in the U.S.
In 1896, John Dewey, considered one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century, opened the firstlaboratory school at the University of Chicago. Dewey’s brand of progressive education eschewed traditional, rote teaching methods in favor of thinking and doing.
At the time, many great inventions came from individuals—such as Charles Grafton Page, Michael Faraday, and Joseph Henry—using their powers of observation and deductive logic, rather than academic training.
Building on the work of Dewey, in the early 1990s, Seymour Papert developed the educational theory known as constructionism, which advocates for teaching both in context and with an understanding of a student’s motivation for learning.
Papert’s idea of experiential learning is the motivating force behind one effort promoting 3D printers for schools: FabLab@School, a “worldwide growing network of educational digital fabrication labs.” The project encourages the physical creation of objects using 3D printers and laser cutters in collaboration with peers, and aims to engage children in resolving actual problems.
“If you introduce engineering in the classroom in order to teach math, every kid gets it,” says Jeffrey Lipton, former project lead of Fab@Home, an ideologically similar but different initiative than FabLab@School. “It takes math from a boring subject to a superpower.”
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