Director, Lifelong Kindergarten, MIT Media Lab
Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab, develops new technologies and activities to engage people (especially children) in creative learning experiences. His ultimate goal: to help people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, work collaboratively, and learn continuously.
His Lifelong Kindergarten research group developed ideas and technologies underlying the LEGO Mindstorms robotics kits and Scratch programming software, used by millions of young people around the world. He also co-founded the Computer Clubhouse project, an international network of 100 after-school learning centers where youth from low-income communities learn to express themselves creatively with new technologies.
Resnick earned a BS in physics from Princeton, and an MS and PhD in computer science from MIT. He worked for five years as a science-technology journalist, and he has lectured and consulted around the world on innovative uses of new technologies in education. He has been awarded the Eliot Pearson Award for Excellence in Children’s Media (2008), the Kids@Play prize as the top “Digital Pioneer for Kids” (2010), and the McGraw Prize for Education (2011).