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For more than three decades, Mitch Resnick has immersed himself in educational technology and innovative learning models. Now a professor at the MIT Media Lab, and a co-creator of the popular Scratch programming language, Resnick remains a tireless advocate for student-centered education, collaborative learning environments, and the idea that coding is a form of literacy.

His new book,聽Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity Through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play, is a look at our current educational moment. 鈥淩oughly two-thirds of grade school students will end up doing work that hasn鈥檛 been invented yet,鈥� Resnick contends, hinting at the emerging worlds of artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and 鈥渟mart鈥� houses. How do we prepare today鈥檚 students to meet that challenge?

We talked with Resnick about the importance of coding in our school system, his thoughts on the changing roles of teachers, and new ways to engage students鈥攁nd assess their work.

EDUTOPIA: You moved from journalism鈥攚riting about computers and business鈥攖o the field of educational technology and learning in the 1980s. What inspired that move?

MITCH RESNICK: The most important shift for me in thinking about computers and learning was actually the spring of 1982, the West Coast Computer Faire鈥攚hich is like an early form of Maker Faire鈥攁nd Seymour Papert was giving a keynote address. When I heard Seymour talk, it gave me new vision of what role computers might play in people鈥檚 lives: They weren鈥檛 just machines to get a job done鈥攖hey could enable people to express themselves in new ways, and change the way people thought about themselves and thought about the world. That was very exciting to me.

EDUTOPIA: Are we still struggling with Papert鈥檚 early insight鈥攁lmost astonishing at the time鈥攖hat the computer isn鈥檛 just a processor of information but a platform for constructing human knowledge?

RESNICK: Yes I think so, and it mirrors a struggle in the education system that has nothing to do with technology. Many people think of learning and education as a process of delivering information or delivering instruction. Other people see learning and education as student-centered鈥攍earning is about exploring, experimenting, creating. Those are very different visions that predate the computer, but of course the computer can fit into either of those two models. It鈥檚 a wonderful device for delivering information, but it can also be a wonderful device for creating, exploring, and experimenting.

EDUTOPIA: There are influential people, like Apple CEO Tim Cook, saying, 鈥淲hat we need to do is get coding into every single public school. It needs to be a requirement in public schools across the board.鈥� Is that right?

RESNICK: If it were up to me, I would introduce it. But I want to be careful because I don鈥檛 want to embrace it for the same reason that some people might. The first question I would ask is: 鈥淲hy should we learn coding at all?鈥� Many people embrace coding in schools as a pathway to jobs as computer programmers and computer scientists, and of course they鈥檙e right that those opportunities are expanding rapidly. But that鈥檚 not a great reason for everyone to learn how to code.

Very few people grow up to be professional writers, but we teach everyone to write because it鈥檚 a way of communicating with others鈥攐f organizing your thoughts and expressing your ideas. I think the reasons for learning to code are the same as the reasons for learning to write. When we learn to write, we are learning how to organize, express, and share ideas. And when we learn to code, we are learning how to organize, express, and share ideas in new ways, in a new medium.

EDUTOPIA: What does that look like in the school system? Does coding sit alongside math and reading? Is it integrated in some way?

RESNICK: These days I talk about our approach in terms of these four words that begin with the letter p: projects, passion, peers, and play. So that鈥檚 the approach I would take with coding, but also with any other learning: getting students to work on projects, based on their passion, in collaboration with peers, in a playful spirit. And each of those p鈥檚 is important. I think work on projects gives you an understanding of the creative process, how to start with just the inkling of an idea and then to build a prototype, share it with people, experiment with it, and continue to modify and improve it.

We know that kids are going to work longer and make deeper connections to the content when they are passionate about the ideas鈥攚hen they care鈥攁nd when they鈥檙e learning with and being inspired by peers. And I鈥檇 want to have kids experience coding in the same way.

EDUTOPIA: You鈥檙e describing a high-choice learning environment rooted in student passion and project work. Where鈥檚 the teacher in that mix?

RESNICK: The teacher still plays an incredibly important role, but in this approach it鈥檚 not so much about delivering instruction. One role the teacher is playing is the role of connector鈥攃onnecting peers with one another to work together on solving problems. Teachers also act as catalysts by asking provocative questions: 鈥淲hat do you think will happen if...?鈥� or 鈥淭hat surprised me, why do you think that happened?鈥�

They鈥檙e consultants, too, and it鈥檚 not just about consulting on technical skills, but also about things like how you continue to work on something even when you are frustrated, or suggesting strategies for working with diverse groups of people. Finally, the teacher can be a collaborator, working together with kids on projects鈥攂ecause kids should see teachers as learners too.

EDUTOPIA: It sounds like a more democratic, open system, which seems to imply breaking down a lot of barriers?

RESNICK: I think breaking down barriers is a good way to think about it. When I think about the type of things that I might change in schools鈥攁nd I know none of it is easy鈥攁 lot of it is about breaking down barriers. Break down the barriers between class periods, because 50-minute chunks are too constraining if you want to work on projects. Break down the barriers between disciplines, because meaningful projects almost always cut across disciplines. Break down the barriers between ages and have older kids work with younger kids鈥攂oth groups benefit. And break down the barriers between inside of school and outside of school鈥攈ave kids work on projects that are meaningful to their communities and bring people from the communities into the schools to support the teachers.

That鈥檚 one way of dealing with the challenge of a single teacher committed to 30 or more kids. It doesn鈥檛 have to be that way. Older kids can be helping younger kids, people from the community can be helping.

EDUTOPIA: A fair question鈥攁nd a common criticism鈥攊s: How do you figure out whether kids are learning anything? How do you assess it?

RESNICK: I would take a portfolio-like approach, looking at what kids create. That鈥檚 what we do in our Scratch online community. You can see that a kid has created several dozen digital projects, and you can look through their projects and see their progression. For example, you might see the gradual adoption of new strategies鈥攏ew types of artwork, but also new and improved programming structures.

I acknowledge that it鈥檚 difficult to arrive at quantitative measures, but I also think we each don鈥檛 necessarily need to. I sometimes make the analogy to the way I鈥檝e been evaluated here at MIT. There are actually no quantitative measures in the process. Basically, they look at my portfolio: They see what I鈥檝e created, they look at the trajectory and the progress over time, and they ask other people鈥檚 opinions about it. You鈥檒l sometimes hear, 鈥淲ell that鈥檚 not serious, we need quantitative measures to be serious.鈥� Are they making the claim that MIT is not serious? I understand the criticism that it鈥檚 inefficient, but I think those are things we are going to need to deal with.

Again, it鈥檚 a big change and I鈥檓 not saying it鈥檚 easy, but I do think we need to move in that direction.

The author of this article is the chief content officer at 麻豆传媒入口. You can follow him on Twitter .