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Are We Wasting Children's Time With Technology?
New White Paper - Computation and the Reggio Emilia ApproachGary Stager's new white paper, Computation and the Reggio Emilia Approach, makes the case that computation is a powerful medium for children's expression and knowledge construction — one that deepens and extends the values already at the heart of Reggio practice. Not all technology meets this goal. There is a distinction that matters enormously in practice: digital projects use computers to produce documents, images, and presentations, while computational projects require children to actually direct the behavior of a system — programming a robot ballerina to dance, or building a shoe that summons a taxi. One is a representation of an idea; the other is the idea made real. And when a child's project makes their thinking visible, that is documentation in the Reggio sense — not a record produced for a grade, but a trace of how a child worked their way toward understanding. This white paper celebrates the connections between computational technology projects and the Reggio Emilia Approach — widely regarded as the most thoughtful, child-centered educational philosophy in the world. Read it, download it free, and share it widely. [Read and download here]Join us in Reggio this June!If you want to explore these ideas in the place where the Reggio Emilia Approach was born, there's still time to join us in Italy this June at "The Language of Computation: Constructing Modern Knowledge in Reggio Emilia. Register today! Big Bulk Book Discount for Summer ReadingYes - we got the reminder from some folks that they were on spring break! But if you are back now, there's still time to take advantage of our 40% volume discount on orders of 20 or more CMK Press books. If you’re planning ahead — for PD, summer book studies, or classroom sets — this is the best deal we offer. Many schools and districts have used Invent To Learn, 20 Things to Do with a Computer: Forward 50, and The Learner’s Apprentice – AI and the Amplification of Human Creativity as their school-wide faculty summer reading text. Leadership teams may also be inspired by The Inner Principal: Reflections on Educational Leadership. But wait there's more! 😉 How it works:
👉 [Download the order form] This offer is available for a limited time through May 31, 2026. If you have questions or want help choosing titles, just reply to this email. Sylvia Martinez & Gary Stager |
Constructing Modern Knowledge
Join us for news, resources, and events for creative, progressive educators
Hello Reader, A nearly 60-year-old paper highly skeptical of artificial intelligence is going viral on social media. Written in 1965 by MIT philosopher Hubert Dreyfus, Alchemy and Artificial Intelligence argued that the entire AI enterprise was built on a false assumption about how human minds work — and that no computer, no matter how powerful, would ever be able to replicate what makes human intelligence genuinely human. Dreyfus paid a steep professional price for saying so. According to...
Hello Reader, In between leading a lecture/workshop on computational making at Italy’s University of Padova and a forthcoming lecture at The University of Bologna, Gary and I have been hard at work planning for our institute, The Language of Computation – Constructing Modern Knowledge in Reggio Emilia (June 15-19, 2026). It is not too late to join us! Gary being introduced by Professor Emanuele Menegatti Who else is in Reggio Emilia? Do you know who else is excited to be learning about...
We're thrilled to announce a new book from CMK Press: History in Their Hands: Teaching Inquiry-Based United States History Through the Lens of Black Agency by Beth Krasemann. This book is wholly consistent with the CMK Press philosophy — trust students, empower teachers, expand opportunities for knowledge construction. The learning-by-making here just happens to be in U.S. history. Students are armed with primary sources — text, visuals, audio, and video — and challenged to socially construct...