This is (sort of) one of the sticking points people like Kay and especially Papert made. Because all computing is interactive, it is always an ongoing part of a

This is (sort of) one of the sticking points people like Kay and especially Papert made. Because all computing is interactive, it is always an ongoing part of a more general "learning process." There are many types of learners and ways that they can internalize otherwise complex systems/concepts. It is the job of the computing environment to be flexible enough to take advantage of each person's particular method for learning how to properly (and powerfully) manipulate it. Lots of talk about spreadsheets in here, and rightly so. See also Hypercard. These systems are (were) incredibly popular, and regular people were able to do things with them that they could not in other media. It's largely because the systems they represented were well designed -- not because people had some particular competency in "abstract thought" or "systems thinking." We are all human and, for the most part, we all do that stuff one way or another.