The 4 P's of Creative Learning: Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play | Carmelo Presicce

Carmelo Presicce talks about the present and the future of learning from the perspective of the Lifelong Kindergarten research group of MIT Media Lab. Their research head, Mitch Resnick, believes that kindergarten is the biggest invention of the last millennia. The concept of a kindergarten is inventing spaces and contexts for kids' natural learning by expressing themselves through play, tinkering, and exploring. This contradicts what happens in schools. Carmelo shares their vision in Lifelong Kindergarten of transforming schools to look more like kindergartens. They are designing tools and learning experiences that incorporate play-based learning and project-based learning.

Carmelo is a Ph.D. student at MIT Media Lab. His research focuses on the design and facilitation of creative learning experiences in a variety of contexts, both in-person and online. He co-leads the development of the online course and a global community of educators called Learning Creative Learning. Together, they explore the principles and practices of learning through 4P's: Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play. He’s experimenting with new approaches to online learning, particularly focusing on hands-on, inclusive, playful, and collaborative online workshops using the Scratch programming language.

Carmelo was active in the CoderDojo community before joining MIT. He helped in organizing free coding clubs for kids in Italy and other creative learning experiences for children, teachers, and learners of all ages.⁠

This interview was presented at the Homeschooling Global Summit 2020 organized by Galileo - the self-directed online global school. Learn more at https://2020.hgsummit.com/.