Professor Hal Abelson has been active in computer science for over half a century—the first computer he worked with, in high school, was the kind where programs were encoded in a pattern of holes punched into a paper tape fed into the machine. When he arrived at MIT as a graduate student in the late 1960s, Abelson became involved in exploring computers’ potential as educational tools. One of his first projects, under the guidance of Prof. Seymour Papert, involved working to create a graphics display for use with the Logo programming language, which had first been introduced to schoolkids just a year or two earlier. In this episode, Prof. Abelson reminisces about those early experiences and discusses the importance of computer education for everyone–including, and especially, for children who have the power to make real-world impact through their programming work. He also weighs in on the risks associated with artificial intelligence, and describes his involvement in MIT’s decision to give away educational materials online for free—an initiative that ultimately became MIT OpenCourseWare. Fundamentally, Prof. Abelson believes that computer scientists need to confront not only the technical challenges of designing new systems or applications, but also a deeper, humanistic question: “What, in fact, is worth making?”
Relevant Resources:
6.S062 Generative Artificial Intelligence in K-12 Education on MIT OpenCourseWare
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. We’d love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Jackson Mayer, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!