On August 5, high school students participating in the School of Engineering and Lincoln Lab’s Beaver Works Summer Institute competed in a grand prix for mini autonomous cars, reports Olivia Vanni for BostInno. “Their small self-driving cars not only had to prove fast, but they also had to withstand a course full of hairpin turns and other racing cars."
Washington Post reporter Emily Langer chronicles the life and work of Prof. Emeritus Seymour Papert, who died last week at age 88. Langer explains that Papert “led an early campaign to revolutionize education with the personal computer, a tool he championed not as a classroom gadget but as a key to unlocking a child’s excitement for learning.”
Barb Darrow writes for Fortune about the career of Prof. Emeritus Seymour Papert, who died July 31. “In the 1960s, when computers were pricey and huge, Papert saw them as a way to help children learn by doing. He developed the Logo programming language for children, who initially used it to program and animate a small robot turtle.”
Lisa Mullins of WBUR’s All Things Considered speaks with Suzanne Massie, wife of the late Prof. Emeritus Seymour Papert, about Papert’s dedication to using technology to provide children around the world access to education. Massie notes that Papert was “the visionary who first saw the potential of the computer as an instrument of education of children.”
Prof. Emeritus Seymour Papert, a leading expert on using technology to help children learn, died on July 31, reports Glenn Rifkin for The New York Times. Prof. Mitchel Resnick notes that Papert was “the first person to see that the computer could be used to support children’s learning and development.”
Sophia Haigney writes for The Boston Globe that students in the URBANFRAME program, based out of MIT’s architecture department, are exploring design solutions for Cambridge’s Central Square, including sidewalk lanes to help smartphone users avoid collisions. Haigney notes that the program is aimed at designing “for under-represented groups in the community — people whom designers might typically ignore.”
Vice President for Open Learning Sanjay Sarma speaks with Politico’s Cogan Schneier about MITili, a new initiative aimed at fostering education research. “A defining feature of [MIT] is that when you create a challenge, everyone attacks it in different ways,” explains Sarma. “The integrated approach seems to unleash a lot here.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Sue Shellenbarger speaks with Prof. Mitchel Resnick about the benefits of teaching children how to code. Shellenbarger writes that Resnick explained that “coding games and puzzles helps children go beyond a passive role with technology…to seeing it as a tool for creating things, expressing their ideas and sharing them with others.”
MIT has launched a number of new initiatives “to expand and research digital and online education for learners of all ages,” reports Inside Higher Ed.
Prof. Frank Wilczek writes for The Wall Street Journal that integrating logic puzzles and games into math lessons could make math a more accessible subject. “We know that people like games of chance and gambling,” writes Wilczek. “These lead naturally into adventures in probability and statistics.”
BetaBoston reporter Elizabeth Preston writes that MIT graduate students are explaining complex aerospace engineering topics to a class of fifth grader students in Georgia. Teacher Alana Davis says of the MIT students that, “I don’t think they realize what a difference they’re making in these kids’ lives.”
David Rosen writes for Teen Urban News about Girls Day at the MIT Museum, an event that celebrates women in STEM. “Science involves everything,” said graduate student Olivia Hentz, the event’s opening speaker. “You get to learn something no one has ever known. We hope you will be inspired to go back to your schools and study science.”
In an article for USA Today, Megan Flesch speaks with Andrea Garmilla, a senior at Charlotte Catholic who attended the E2@MIT program this summer. Garmilla explains that she was drawn to MIT because it “has so many quirks that make it awesome…the stellar academics and the amazing people really make MIT the best school.”
A team of students from Norwood High School is among the recipients of the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam awards for their design of a retractable awning to remove snow from roofs, writes Jean Lang for The Boston Globe. “It’s a great application of science, engineering, and technology,” says teacher Michael Crowley.
Scott Broom reports for Washington Post TV that a team of high school students from Frederick County, Maryland has been selected as national finalists for the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeen grant for their invention to help people without access to running water transport water more efficiently.