Constructionism
One Laptop Per Child has its ideological roots in MIT Media Lab Professor Seymour Papert's constructionism learning theory. Papert defines constructionism as "[g]iving children good things to do so that they can learn by doing much better than they could before." Instead of assigning a child math problems, Papert proposes giving a child opportunities to use math as a tool to create something, whether a program or a pretty picture. Children could then focus on the more interesting and tangible applications of mathematics, which would be much more appealing than learning math by writing numbers on a piece of paper.
With this frame of mind, the XO laptop was designed to encourage children to learn by capturing the world around them and exploring their creativity. Children can take pictures, film videos, and record audio with the laptop, and they can also edit it and share it with their friends on the network. Instead of learning only in school, the XO laptop seeks to empower children to learn anywhere and to learn from each other as well.