Education: Elementary

Not only is it essential to introduce students at the earliest
possible age to the fundamental computer technologies that are
the foundation of the future, but also to the cultural fabric
that embodies the history of human experience.  Elementary
schools are preparing the application developers, system
designers and innovators of the future.  If a rich and varied
cultural history is to be preserved, then the preservation
community must ensure that these young and eager minds gain an
understanding of the significance of this cultural heritage and
the forces that threaten its integrity.  

The Hennigan School project of the M.I.T. Media Lab represents an
initiative to place computer technologies in the hands of the
youngest users possible based on the premise that computing
skills are simply another language skill that can be readily
learned at an early age.  Along with developing a basic
understanding of the computer, students (6 years old and up)
assimilate programming skills and gain important insight about
the learning process itself: that you seldom get it right the
first time with the computer, that mistakes (bugs) can be of
benefit by forcing us to look at tasks from various perspectives
in finding resolution to problems, and ultimately, that there is
a negotiable approach to knowledge Brand, 1988).  For the kids at
Hennigan, computers have diminished the barriers between school
knowledge and that required in their ordinary lives.  In the
process, that generation of user, unlike any other to date, will
become the designers of the applications that will push the
current capabilities of the technologies to their limits and
beyond.

<ffile61>   Exploiting the Mind