US researcher who devotes his time to embedding computers in toys to help children learn shares his ideas here

By Shahida Ariff

PROFESSOR Mitchel Resnick from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believes that technology and toys are a potent combination to help children learn and become creative.

So the 46-year-old researcher has devoted his career to embedding computers in objects familiar to youngsters, so they can become inventors and even learn complex mathematical and scientific concepts.

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He shared his ideas on the importance of creativity in society and, how new technologies can support and foster creativity, with educators at an IT conference at Suntec City last week.

He was a keynote speaker at the three-day Itopia conference, organised by the Education Ministry.

Prof Resnick, director of the Lifelong Kindergarten research group at MIT's Media Lab, is one of a group of people who developed the ideas and technology behind the Lego MindStorms robotics construction kit.

It is used by students in about 60 per cent of the 300-odd schools here, and millions more worldwide.

The Lego bricks are embedded with tiny computers, motors, sensors and infra-red transmitters. Users construct a toy with the bricks, and then connect it to a PC via a cable.

The users then write programs on the PC on what they want the toy to do.

The cable is later disconnected, with the programs stored inside the toy.

A press of a button will activate the toy to do what it is supposed to.

'With traditional Lego bricks, kids could build, say, a rabbit, but it would just sit there,' Prof Resnick told The Straits Times. 'With the programmable bricks, they could build something that not only looks like a rabbit, but also behaves like one.'

They also help teach ideas previously thought too advanced for children.

'They include the way things interact, change, communicate, move and grow,' he said.

'These concepts are difficult to learn if all you have are paper and pencil.'

Prof Resnick believes some of the best learning takes place in kindergartens.

There, by using simple toys like blocks, finger paint and sticks, youngsters build houses or create pictures, learning about numbers, shapes and colours in the process.

This inspired him to start the Lifelong Kindergarten group in 1992. The group develops technologies that expand what people, especially children, can create.

'I have a strong belief that one of the best ways for children to learn is by designing and creating,' he said.

His interest in children's toys may appear unusual, given that the physics and computer science-trained man is single and has no children of his own.

But he attributes it to his lifelong passion for helping people find better ways to learn.

Also, he finds children 'born with a natural impulse to explore and experiment, so we need to help them develop it further'.

Technology is an ideal tool for doing this, he said.

And he wants as many youngsters as possible to have access to technology. In 1993, he co-founded a Computer Clubhouse in Boston to allow underprivileged children to use the latest software to create artwork, websites, games and music.

There are now 40 such clubhouses in the United States, and about a dozen worldwide, including in India and China.

'It's not the technology alone that will make a difference, but how we use it.

'So there are important choices ahead of us, about how we use technology to make better lives for ourselves,' he said.

SCIENTIFIC FUN: Learning through play

ONGOING projects by Professor Mitchel Resnick's Lifelong Kindergarten group include: