Internet Archaeol. 12. Mowat. Delight

2.6 Delight

Learning is often associated with the harsher aspects of formal education, for instance, standards, deadlines, exams, compulsory curriculum, repetition and hard work. Good learning is often challenging and perplexing and rightly so, but it is important to remember that learning can and should be 'delightful'. Indeed, Papert argues that learning should be like 'falling in love' (Papert 1993, 27). Papert also reminds us about the importance of fun in learning - that is, the process of play for pleasure, willing immersion and spontaneous, unstructured, experimentation for its own sake. This important stage of learning is generally overlooked in formal educational practice.