Most learners meet computing through PowerPoint, videos, and quizzes—absorbing abstractions instead of manipulating ideas. These formats deliver information efficiently but seldom make learners operational fast enough to keep pace with the pulse of technological change [1]. Following the Aristotelian call revived by Biddle and Noble [2,4], this talk argues that learning to code—or to think computationally—could begin not in theory but in action, through interactive façade objects that invite play.

What if learners could start by touching and testing minimal, reactive widgets—small, living fragments with visible input, output, and state? Through such encounters they could touch, test, predict, and reason, forming mental models of systems before meeting syntax [3,4]. Like learning to drive without dismantling the engine, understanding would emerge from experience first, reflection later.

And what if—with the help of AI—you could transform your static pedagogical materials into interactive, gamified artifacts in minutes—and inspire your learners to do the same? Imagine enabling them to publish, share, and evolve their creations, customizing experiences to match each learner’s background, passions, and struggles—while keeping the journey fair and coherent for all.

Come and discover how an open-access educational platform developed in a European project lets educators and learners co-create living, executable learning artifacts and share them in minutes. Join the Aristotelian return Biddle and Noble once imagined—where computing becomes performance, teaching becomes play, and learning regains its craft. Together, we can rediscover the joy of making, the play of representation, the performance of understanding—and make it Enlightning.