Young Children As Creative Thinkers

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Have you, your child, or grandchild ever played with LEGO bricks… the colored plastic pieces used to build things? Have you, your child, or grandchild ever played with LEGO bricks… the colored plastic pieces used to build things? Mitchel Resnick, a professor at MIT, has taken LEGO bricks to a new level, adding electronics, motors, and sensors to the LEGO kit, so that youngsters can make LEGO robots that move, react, and interact.

It's all part of Resnick's effort to help children be creative thinkers. In another project, he developed an online community called SRATCH, where youngsters create their own interactive stories, games, and animations. Children around the world have shared more than 2 million projects on the SCRATCH website.

Resnick also co-founded the COMPUTER CLUBHOUSE, an international network of 100 after-school centers, where youngsters from low-income communities learn to express themselves imaginatively with new technologies.

Recently, he received the McGraw Prize in education for his innovative work in educational technologies.

Visit SCRATCH.MIT.edu to explore a world of possibilities for learning and fun at school or at home.

Reported By Dr. Marciene Mattleman, KYW Newsradio