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12,000 BCE
Learning is Play
In the beginning, when the human experience was about survival, children's time spent learning was experience driven. They played at hunting and gathering until they could do it for real. -
10,000 BCE
Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions
Adults skills became increasingly more labor-intensive as the rise of farming and factories replaced nomadic cultures. For this reason, children began learning through inculcation. -
1500
Childhood is a time for learning
In Europe, the idea started to spread that compulsory, but not standardized, public education was needed to develop children into culturally successful adults through repetition and testing. -
Edison's Learning Machines
Edison began the revolution of placing machines in the hands of students as a means to simplify the role of an educator. Despite his misconceptions about the psychology of learning, this was the first step in a tidal wave of technological advancement. -
Apple Computers in Every School
Putting computers in every school began to metaphorically knock down the walls of the classrooms, providing opportunities to students to learn more than ever before. -
1:1 Learning Technology
As personal computers and handheld devices have become common, so too did they in schools. Students have individual access to the internet and innumerable apps and programs for learning. -
Learning Is Play
As we have advanced both our understanding of the psychology of learning and the sophistication and access to technology, play has returned to learning. Although it is still highly regulated and structured, students have the possibility of individualized learning focused on their own interests and goal through the use of technology in schools.