Papert’s fascination with gears relates to his childhood learning development due to his interpretation of mathematics in the gears’ inherent mechanical properties needed for them to function correctly. Nevertheless, that fascination existed because gears also had a direct relationship with understanding how automobiles operate, which was a topic of immense interest for Papert when he was young. This assimilation with the model of gears is what engaged him with mathematics and made him feel comfortable with equations.

Being currently involved in various education initiatives in Puerto Rico, I can identify that I did not have that assimilation with specific models to relate to the understanding of my immediate context or my learning experience when I was a child. Probably, I also made that disassociation between my topics of interest and what I was thought to be practical at the moment of finding those models, perhaps not surprisingly, due to how I was exposed to mathematics and sciences in my early childhood.

It was later on, when I was studying architecture as an undergraduate student (when I started to discover my preferred design methodologies), that I started viewing the buildings and the products that I was designing as systems, structures composed of complex parts. I discovered my fascination with technology and its applications as tools to solve problems. I was ultimately inclined to explore design through science, mathematics, and emerging technologies, therefore having to understand and learn topics like programming, parametric design, and digital fabrication. Those tools required me to be proficient in certain skills that I was not interested in learning before, for other reasons that weren’t focused on passing an exam. Nevertheless, I was always attracted to the science and mathematics disciplines (in their pure/ traditional forms), just not in a playful way of engaging my interests in general. Interestingly, my inclinations towards creative fields were always imparted to me as something unrelated to mathematics. It was when I was exposed to having to solve real design problems in my adulthood that I had to revisit and ‘relearn to make’.

While the constructionist theory focuses on the importance of tools, it also stresses the idea of context. The immediate context of the person learning is vital to assimilate cognitive skills and apply actual action to acquiring or developing knowledge. Understanding this as an educator is essential at a personal level due to my experience in organizing skills and knowledge to solve problems. Curiosity on trying to find out how things operate is something I can observe in students when working on projects in our workshops and classes. The immediate context of some of the students and participants I engage within Puerto Rico is an economic crisis, hurricanes, earthquakes, and a current pandemic. Perhaps a significant challenge (and opportunity) I have been dealing with in recent years is to provide the processes and spaces for individuals to find their “gears” in this context. Learning also becomes an experience of self-reliance, and being a maker becomes an advantageous skill for problem-solving.