Why
eToys?
eToys provides a visual programming language and
environment designed for young children. Theoretically, it
draws on
Seymour Papert's constructionist
approach to using computers as tools for children to
create public artefacts, learning through playful
construction. In eToys, a learner can paint an object
(such as a car), and drag out tiles that represent
instructions to make the object move, turn, change
shape and colour, and interact in countless ways with
other objects. Learners can create models of phenomena
such as phases of the moon, the diffusion of dye in
water, or the behaviour of a salmon swimming upstream.
With eToys learners can also create active essays
which consist of written essays, simulations or
models, and the programs that underpin their models.
Learning eToys is easy with Kusasa's helpful tutorials.
Each of eToy's features is introduced by one of the Kusasa
characters in a comic-style format with speech bubbles and
step-by-step instructions. This makes it easy for learners
– and facilitators – to pick up the way eToys works. In no
time at all learners will be surprising each other and
their teachers with their own eToys projects.
