The Eight Big Ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Lab​
You may or may not be aware that Constructing Modern Knowledge founder Gary Stager was the principal investigator on Dr. Seymour Papert’s last institutional research project. Gary and Papert, along with colleagues David Cavallo and John Stetson, created the Constructionist Learning Laboratory (CLL), a multi-age, interdisciplinary, project-based, alternative school inside Maine’s troubled prison for teens.

Gary likes to joke that the CLL was like Gilligan's Island. Visitors came and went with great frequency, yet the student “castaways” remained. In fact, the project attracted so much attention and so many visitors that Papert arrived one morning with a spectacularly brilliant one-page document that we could hand to guests to better inform their visit. Papert titled the document, The Eight Big Ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Laboratory.

Countless educators from across the globe have been inspired by this succinct gem and the Columbia University Teachers College FabLearn Fellows have translated it into countless languages, including Bulgarian, Spanish, German, Swahili and more.

Download this colorful PDF poster of these principles and print, share, discuss, or hang in your learning environment.

These principles of modern knowledge construction and constructionist learning perfectly encapsulate the mission and methodology of the Constructing Modern Knowledge Summer Institute.

​Read more about The Eight Big Ideas, find translations, and download the poster.​

We hope you find these ideas interesting, provocative, and inspirational!

These ideas come to life at Constructing Modern Knowledge this summer —

Gary Stager & Sylvia Martinez
co-hosts, the Constructing Modern Knowledge Summer Institute July 9-12, 2024

PS If you missed the news, this summer's Constructing Modern Knowledge Institute will be the last one. Join us - don't miss out!

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