Frances Bell’s Blog

http://www.knowandnetwork.org/francesbell/weblog/30.html

I was directed to this list of recordings at EdTEchLive and noticed this interview of John Seely Brown, formerly of Xerox Parc.

The whole thing is worth listening to but if you are short of time, just listen to the last few minutes.?

At the end of this interview when asked to include anything missed out, he reflected on the learning that many did to form foundations of later formal learning that was based on ‘tinkering’. His own example was his tinkering with cars in the garage and how his academic parents did not value this.? Around the mid 80s, products such as cars became “cognitively impenetrable”, impossible or illegal to tinker with them, creating a generation who were not tinkerers.? More recently the web has re-enabled tinkering of software, music, etc. for another generation.? One difference between this tinkering and its predecessor is that it is not gendered, it is accessible and ‘permitted for men and women.? As Seely Brown says “it cross-cuts the genders”.

That is an interesting idea - does it resonate with your own experience?