MOOSE Crossing is a text-based virtual reality environment (or "MUD") designed to give children eight to thirteen years old a meaningful context for learning reading, writing, and computer programming. It is used from home, in after-school programs, and increasingly as an in-school activity. To date, it has been used in five classrooms. This paper compares its use in three of those classrooms, and analyzes factors that made use of MOOSE Crossing more and less successful in each of these

more »

... . Issues highlighted include access to computers, existence of peer experts, free-form versus structured activity, and school atmosphere.