"Hard Fun' Yields Lessons on Nature of Intelligence
Chappell Brown
EE Times (07/11/05) No. 1379, P. 1
 <http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2005-7/0715f.html>
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2005-7/0715f.html#item16

Co-director of MIT's Future of Learning Group David Cavallo says
revolutionary insights about human intelligence can be produced through
"hard fun" projects that apply technology creatively, methodically, and
assiduously.

He explains that early artificial intelligence research did not align well
with intelligence modeling, since it followed a simplistic vision; but the
computer can now enable researchers to better account for the complexity of
intelligence. "What's really been rich in AI, what's really rich in the
computer, and what has helped us to understand minds better was trying to
build models of minds," Cavallo says.

Rich computing can be applied to education to make learning a more active
and dynamic experience for students. Cavallo notes that arts educators tend
to be more accepting of active learning projects than technical teachers,
since people with an arts background are familiar with mixed media and are
eager to embrace new concepts and forms of expression. He cites a project in
which Brazilian students were challenged to design an ideal city as a model
for the kind of "hard fun" classes his group develops: The project begins
with a brainstorming session where each participant works out what specific
urban element he is going to model, and then thinks through the various
pitfalls associated with that element; the overall goal of the project is to
give students, teachers, and administrators new ideas about making learning
different.

Cavallo says his team hopes that future learning will involve the use of the
computer to support thinking, creativity, and the realization of imagined
concepts. "We're not just looking at the computer as an information-delivery
device or a communication device: It's a dreaming and making device," he
concludes.

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