ABSTRACT

Drawing on historical epistemology and considerations on the function of scientific modelling, this article investigates how in the mid-twentieth century electronic and programmable animal models became tools for exploring the inaccessible ontology of the human mind. The article examines how machines have informed our understanding of the learning process and, vice versa, how the concept of learning has been used to design new technology. The main focus is on Seymour Papert, an artificial intelligence researcher and advocate of Jean Piaget’s constructivist learning theory, who developed computer software for children based on the animated turtle LOGO. The sources used include archival material from Austria, Switzerland and the United States, as well as several publications and grey literature. The article demonstrates that there were close links between artificial intelligence, constructivism and educational technology, and how these links benefited from the cultural transformation of the late 1960s.

摘要

本文利用历史认识论和对科学建模功能的考虑，研究了在20世纪中叶，电子和可编程动物模型如何成为探索人类心灵不可访问的本体的工具。本文探讨了机器如何使我们了解了学习过程，反之亦然，学习了如何将学习概念用于设计新技术。Seymour Papert主要研究人工智能，他是让·皮亚杰（Jean Piaget）建构主义学习理论的倡导者，他基于动画乌龟LOGO开发了用于儿童的计算机软件。所使用的资源包括来自奥地利，瑞士和美国的档案材料，以及一些出版物和灰色文献。