Enzymind Labs

I've been reading a lot of material developed by Alan Kay (e.g. his writings), and others who have been influenced by Kay's vision of what operating systems and software should look like to create a revolution in the way people, in particular children, learn.

Kay's TED talk is a good introduction to his vision of better techniques for teaching kids by using computers to illustrate experience in ways -– mathematically and scientifically -- that only computers can.

Kay ideas about how software will change and how it should be organized is not to be ignored. Among other things he; brought object oriented programming to fruition (Smalltalk , the parent of all OOP), invented, implemented and promoted many of the graphical interface objects that we use every day (multi-program windowing), and over the course of 40 years has realized many of the elements that make portable computers functional (Dynabook, and One Laptop per Child that runs Smalltalk and Squeak).

One of Kay's mantras is “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”, and he (and others) did and are inventing. Another is "The Real Computer Revolution Hasn't Happened Yet". His ideas about how kids learn are heavily influenced by the work of Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Lev Vygotsky, and by Constructivism.

A funding (and funded) proposal, Proposal to NSF - Granted on August 31st 2006, gives an in depth look at where his group is going. Recent projects, with several colleagues, include the Croquet Project, an open source networked 2D and 3D environment for collaborative work. Scratch is based on Smalltalk/Squeak and a similar set of ideas.