Education
Semenov’s theoretical and practical work in education originated in his involvement as a student, and later, as a teacher in the Nikolay Konstantinov’s math schools. His educational philosophy is rooted in the “learning-by-doing” method of Robert Lee Moore, Paul Halmos, and Russian mathematical circles constructionist approach of Seymour Papert.
Semenov's approach to learning and teaching math and computer science in primary school is based on Inquiry-based learning, mathematical experimenting by learners, language development, emphasizing visual (on screen and paper) and palpable (manipulatives, moving objects) environments of strings, bags, tables, games, and robots as the basis for all math. This includes, but is not limited by, numerical (arithmetic), priority of solving problems-not-known-how-to-solve over drill-and-practice, and using computer for all routine tasks.
In 1985, he was the organizer and co-author of the first computer science textbook for all Soviet schools (editor and co-author – academician A. P. Ershov). Later he was the leader of the authors' teams for textbooks in mathematics and computer science for primary and secondary schools.
In 1987, following his work in the Academy of Sciences, he originated a not-for-profit Institute of New Technologies (INT) that introduced the constructionist philosophy into Russian schools and started cooperation of INT and other Russian educators with Papert's group at MIT Media Lab, Blagovest Sendov's Problem Group on Education at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Robert Tinker's group at TERC, LCSI, Key Curriculum Press. So INT produced Russian adaptations, learning and teaching materials for Logo, educational LEGO, Geometer’s Sketchpad, etc.
Semenov initiated and led in cooperation with Sergey Soprunov the project of Logo-style learning environment for pre-literacy pre-numeracy children, recognized by S. Papert in his book "The Connected Family".
In 2017–2019, he led design and implementation for a system of resultative education (personalized competence-based learning) for Russian schools.
In 2019, Semenov organized a 3-year Program «Fundamental Scientific Support for the Digitalization of General Education» in Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research. As a result of the expert selection, 62 teams from 12 regions of Russia received financial support. "Charter for the Digital Way of School" (2021) is one of the outcomes created as part of the work on the program as a result of a dialogue between the participants of the Program and other prominent figures of Russian education.
