And as children move on, they program the computer to make more complex decisions and find themselves engaged in reflecting on more complex aspects of their own thinking. Thus teaching the Turtle to act or to ‘think’ can lead one to reflect on one’s own actions and thinking. He makes what I think is a clearer point later, though, and which I think Toca Builders captures perfectly:Įven the simplest Turtle work can open new opportunities for sharpening one’s thinking about thinking: Programming the Turtle starts by making one reflect on how one does oneself what one would like the Turtle to do. “objects in which there is an intersection of cultural presence, embedded knowledge, and the possibility for personal identification.” Or as Papert says in Mindstorms, his wonderful book about the development and intent behind LOGO: Not just a device to command, attached to a programming language a device that you see the world through. Papert explained the LOGO turtle as an “ object-for-thinking-with“. As I played this, I realised what it really was: Minecraft through the eyes of Seymour Papert. It’s the manifestation and personification of the four builders that suddenly clicked for me. You can swap between builders with a simple or menu, or by tapping on any that you can see. They each control slightly differently – and they each manifest in the landscape. Each has their own different ability: most can both construct and desturct almost all can control the colour of blocks some are better at changing blocks after the fact, others at sketching with.
This is not (just) a game in which the user is a builder it is a game about six individual builders (pictured above). It’s the plural in the title that makes it so interesting, though: builders. After all, it’s a tiny play area compared to Minecraft – six blocks of height and relatively small X-Y dimensions. Initially, it might seem a bit clunky, a Minecraft pastiche that’s not nearly so sophisticated as Mojang’s original.
I’ve been playing a little with Toca Boca‘s latest iOS toy: Toca Builders.Īs you’d expect from Toca Boca, it’s charming: a straightforward, paired down implementation of an idea, with unambiguous UI and lovely character design.īuilders is Toca’s take on a block construction toy for small children.
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