Artificial worlds and real experience

The debate about the potential impact of computers on children's learning and development rages. In this article I take up one set of issues in this debate having to do with the role of experience, computational and otherwise, in learning. Are computational learning environments doomed to failure because of their impoverished sensory properties? Do computers impose rigid and mechanical thinking on their users? My answer to these and related questions is a straightforward no. But in thinking through the issues one can learn a good deal about what “experience” can and should mean, and in what ways we can most profitably use computers in education.