The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap (Book & CD-ROM) [Hardcover]

Seymour Papert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 1996

At a time when parents wonder how computers are changing their children's lives, the world's foremost expert on how children learn to work with computers speaks out.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Children love computers. But what do parents and teachers (the older generation) have to offer children using computers? This latest book by visionary educator and computer pioneer Papert is directed at parents looking for constructive strategies. Papert encourages family computing activities such as drawing and games and urges parents to learn from their children. Advocating home-style over school-style learning, he claims to prefer "bricoleurs" (tinkerers) over "planners." He also offers specific projects on the accompanying CD-ROM and on his personal web site. Papert further ruminates about the computer's impact on education, presenting examples of how computer use has enhanced children's learning. Continuing this theme, which he first developed in Mindstorms (Basic, 1993. 2d ed.) and The Children's Machine (Basic, 1993), Papert addresses parents in a conversational and nontechnical style. Recommended for public libraries and education collections.
Laverna Saunders, Salem State Coll. Lib., Mass.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (October 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563523353
• ISBN-13: 978-1563523359
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,358,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important book by the Father of Learning with Computers, August 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap (Book & CD-ROM) (Hardcover)

Papert's previous books, Mindstorms and the Children's Machine, set the gold standard for thinking about learning and constructing knowledge with computers. While those books focused on learning at school, The Connected Family uses natural "home-style" learning as a metaphor for thinking about how glorious the construction of powerful ideas can be regardless of the setting in which learning occurs.

Papert argues that the proliferation of low-cost personal computers and net access throughout society shifts the locus of learning innovation from the school to the home. This ability to learn in new ways and learn new things at home creates an opportunity to unify the family around the pursuit of knowledge. Papert asks us not to view the computer as a polarizing force in our lives, but through charming examples challenges us to seize the opportunity to create new collaborative learning opportunities and strengthen existing ones in the home and school.

Papert's discussion of what's wrong with most educational software (for a start its not educational) provides parents with critically important consumer information. The simple ideas for computer-based learning projects (and accompanying CD-ROM) inspires us to use the computer as an intellectual laboratory and vehicle for self expression.

The Connected Family was written for parents and grandparents and is thus an easy-read. However, the number of profound ideas expressed elegantly in its pages makes the book one you will read over and over again.

Read the Connected Family and then read The Children's Machine and Mindstorms. If you ever finish, share them with friends.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Simple Idea, Belabored, April 12, 1999

By 

Robert Carlberg (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap (Book & CD-ROM) (Hardcover)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars To Be Connected Or Not To Be Connected,That Is The QuestionI, May 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap (Book & CD-ROM) (Hardcover)

In my response to "The Connected Family" I am compelled to agree with the educational perspectives Papert considers. Most Efficiently, the authors discourse forces one to think and recall educational and sociological thery courses. All through the dialogue we here theories of psychological, social, and most profoundly, educational development: "Children learn in a way that comes natural to them".1 All the while, technological fluency will allow them to grow or change as their world changes around them. "The Connected Family" or "The Family Learning Culture" must encounter the computer or technology in a way that will enhance learning and the family's culture: " My bottom line was that parents should recognize the need to build new kinds of relationships with their children and should see the computer as a vehicle for building, rather than as an obstacle to, family cohesion.Parents should spend less time worrying about what the kids are doing or are not doing with computers and more time trying to find common interest or projects to do together. The article suggested using the children's enthusiam for the computers as a basis for enhancing the family's learning culture."2

The most obvious revelation I discovered in reading Papert's book was his assessment of adult interactions, fears, and styles of learning with the computer or technology (i.e. the planner verses the tinkerer or the functionalist verses the experimentalist). Yes, this book is full of social, psychological, and educational theory. From Piaget concrete and operational stages of child development, the author moves smoothly to a project oriented assessment or aquisition of knowledge.

In conclusion, this book was thought provoking and intellectually stimulating for the heart and soul of all its readers and, most assuredly, for educators and sociologists like myself. Papert gets his readers to feel and think about his analysis and review of computers and technology in our educational system and in our family.In my opinion, the book should be required reading for all Sociology of Education courses. fluency