--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anonymous FTP server: cher.media.mit.edu (18.85.0.47) This file: pub/el-publications/Memos/README Last updated: Fri Jun 11 13:04:46 1993 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The E&L Memo Series" The files in this directory are publications of the Epistemology and Learning Research Group at the MIT Media Laboratory. Files are gradually being installed here as time permits. For a full list of our Epistemology and Learning Memos, please check the the bibliography file - BIBLIOGRAPHY.el-memos.PS - in this directory. For hard copies of these papers, please send a check or money order for the appropriate amount (as shown in the bibliography) to: Epistemology and Learning Publications The Media Laboratory The Massachusetts Institute of Technology 20 Ames Street Room E15-309 Cambridge, MA 02139 Copyright notice: All of these papers are copyrighted by MIT and the respective authors. Permission is granted for reproduction for personal and non-commercial educational use only. These papers may *not* be re-distributed (in electronic form or otherwise) without explicit permission from MIT. Please refer parties interested in obtaining their own copies back to this FTP server site. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To get access to the following papers, you must use anonymous FTP. To do this, type the command "ftp cher.media.mit.edu" to the command line prompt of your Unix machine. (If this does not work, try "ftp 18.85.0.47".) When asked for username, type the name "anonymous". For password, you can type anything you like. You will now be logged in to our FTP server. To get to the directory with the E&L Memos, type the following command: cd pub/el-publications/EL-Memos This directory includes PostScript-ready versions of the Memo series. Most of the papers use the Palatino font and therefore must be printed on a PostScript printer that supports this font. (In the subdirectory /Theses are some of Ph.D. dissertations in PostScript=ready form.) When FTP'ing the files over to your local machine, make sure to use binary mode because they are stored in compressed form using the Unix compress utility. (Go into binary mode by typing the command "binary" to the FTP prompt.) After retrieving the files you are interested in (use the FTP command "get "), you can print them out. If you have a PostScript printer connected directly to your Unix system, you should be able to print out the files using the following command zcat memoNN.PS | lpr -P replacing "memoNN.PS" with the filename of the memo you are printing. (For those of you with MS-DOS PCs, the utility "COMP430D" is a public domain Unix-format compress/uncompress for MS-DOS available from many archive sites.) If you are using a printer hooked up to a Macintosh network, and your Macs are running System 6, you will probably have to reboot the printer and then issue the print command from Unix to get things to work. (This will remove the conflicting LaserPrep dictionary from the printer's memory.) If you can't print directly from Unix, you should first uncompress the PostScript file ('uncompress memoNN.PS' at the Unix prompt) before uploading it to your PC or Mac before printing (unless you want to run uncompression from your desktop machine). You will need a utility such as "SendPS" to send the PostScript files to your printer. Most of the papers were produced in Microsoft Word 4.0 for the Macintosh. Versions of these Word files are provided in addition to the PostScript print-outs. These files, with ".hqx" suffix, were converted with BinHex into text-only form for distribution. You will need a copy of BinHex, StuffIt, or a similar utility on the Mac to convert these files back into MS Word file format. A few of the papers were produced using LaTeX. In these cases, the .tex file is provided. Files that include PostScript pictures are provided in tar archive format. In addition, a separate PostScript-ready cover page (file name "memoNNcvr.PS") is provided. This directory is maintained and supported by Fred Martin (fredm@media.mit.edu). Questions, problems, suggestions, encouragement should be directed to him. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS DIRECTORY CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING PAPERS: memo5.PS.Z "FROM DECONTEXTUALIZED TO SITUATED KNOWLEDGE: Revisiting Piaget's Water-Level Experiment" Edith Ackermann November 1990 By presenting two approached to a well-known Piagetian experiment, the water-level task, Edith Ackermann emphasizes the importance of two complementary views of knowledge acquisition. The first is Piaget's developmental approach (often referred to as "stage theory"), and the second is what Ackermann calls the "differential" approach. Stage theory captures what is common in people's ways of thinking at different levels of their cognitive development, while the differential apprach captures what is different between individuals with similar cognitive abilities. Stage theory stresses the progressive decontextualization of knowledge during ontogeny, while the differential approach provides a more situated perspective on knowledge construction. Finally, stage theory emphasizes the role of cognitive invariants in the structuring of local contexts, while the differential approach stresses the importance of local context in the construction of cognitive invariants. Ackermann suggests that integrating both perspectives helps illuminate the processes by which individual children make sense of their experience, gradually optimizing their interactions with the world. memo6.PS.Z "EDUCATION THROUGH SCHOOLING: The Sad Triumph memo6.tex of the Technocentric Ethos" by Aaron Falbel November 1990 memo8.PS.Z "LEGO/LOGO: LEARNING THROUGH AND ABOUT DESIGN" memo8.hqx by Mitchel Resnick and Stephen Ocko September 1990 Most classroom problem-solving activities focus on analytic thinking: decomposing problems into subproblems. Students rarely get the opportunity to design and invent things. In this paper, we describe how LEGO/Logo, a computer-based robotics environment, supports a variety of design activities. We examine how students using LEGO/Logo can learn important mathematical and scientific ideas through their design activities, while also learning about the design process itself. memo9.PS.Z "XYLOPHONES, HAMSTERS, AND FIREWORKS: memo9.hqx the Role of Diversity in Constructionist Activities" by Mitchel Resnick The Constructionist approach to education goes beyond traditional hands-on activities in that it aims to give children more control over finding and defining the problems they work on. But the goal of ``making projects personal'' is not necessarily easy to achieve. This paper examines a collection of LEGO/Logo projects from a teachers' workshop, exploring the factors that led to a flourishing of personally-meaningful projects. In particular, it discusses the importance of diversity in Constructionist activities. memo10.PS.Z "CHILDREN AND ARTIFICIAL LIFE" memo10.hqx by Mitchel Resnick and Fred Martin Artificial Life is a new field in which researchers study living systems by trying to build artificial versions of them. In this paper, we argue that ideas from Artificial Life research can and should be shared with children. We describe various computational tools (including LEGO/Logo and Electronic Bricks) that students can use to build artificial creatures. By building and programming artificial creatures (and discussing and thinking about how the creatures behave), children can explore some of the central ideas of Artificial Life---ideas like feedback, levels of organization, and emergence. memo11.PS.Z "OVERCOMING THE CENTRALIZED MINDSET: memo11.hqx Towards an Understanding of Emergent Phenomena" by Mitchel Resnick In a growing number of domains, researchers are recognizing the advantages of decentralized models and approaches. But there is a problem: People generally have difficulty reasoning about decentralized systems (and the emergent behaviors characteristic of such systems). When viewing the world, people tend to assume centralized control even where none exists. This paper examines why people tend to view the world with a ``centralized mindset,'' and describes a new computational environment (called *Logo) that people can use to create and explore decentralized models. Using *Logo, people write rules for thousands of interacting ``creatures,'' then observe the group behaviors that emerge. For example, people can simulate the emergence of foraging trails in an ant colony, or the emergence of traffic jams on a freeway. By designing such emergent behaviors, people can begin to develop heuristics for thinking about decentralized systems. memo13.PS.Z "BRAITENBERG CREATURES" memo13.tar.Z by David W. Hogg, Fred Martin, and Mitchel Resnick memo13cvr.PS This paper describes 12 autonomous ``creatures'' built with Electronic Bricks. Electronic Bricks are specially-modified {\sc lego} bricks with simple electronic circuits inside. Although each Electronic Brick is quite simple, the bricks can be combined to form robotic creatures with interesting and complex behaviors, similar to the fictional machines described in Valentino Braitenberg's book {\em Vehicles} (1984).