[IAEP] Why is Scratch more popular than Etoys?

[Dr. Gerald Ardito]

I have been using Scratch and Etoys with students in grades 5-8 for the past
4 years or so. In this work, I have seen an interesting pattern. The younger
students (5th and 6th graders) ALWAYS prefer Etoys to Scratch. (I am talking
here about first exposure).They love the drawing component and then being
able to make their drawings move or do something. The older students ALWAYS
prefer Scratch. They get the bricks metaphor right away and so can get
things done very quickly.

And sometimes students using Etoys get frustrated because there are so many
options and choices and opportunities for functionality.

What is also interesting is the degree to which the tools are owned by the
students. Whichever one they are using starts to become a powerful form of
expression for them so that, if given the opportunity, they will use it to
complete projects and presentations, etc.

I just wanted to add this experience to the conversation.

Gerald

On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 4:54 PM, Maria Droujkova <droujkova at gmail.com>wrote:

> Scratch looks a bit more sleek (modern?) and is a bit easier to use. I
> think these bits add up.
>
> I think Scratch has easier media tools, but I may be mistaken there - maybe
> I just don't know how to use Etoys media tools.
>
> Cheers,
> Maria Droujkova
> 919-388-1721
>
> Make math your own, to make your own math
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 10:04 PM, Steve Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com>wrote:
>
>> I have taught both Scratch and Etoys to kids and hands down most kids
>> prefer Scratch.  I also prefer Scratch for certain things, but prefer Etoys
>> for most learning and teaching.
>>
>> What can we learn from Scratch (and TurtleArt et al) to improve Etoys?
>>  And vice versa what can be done to improve Scratch?
>> .
>> I have ideas, which I will share later, but I am curious to hear the
>> thoughts of others (as mine add nothing to my current understanding and
>> repeating them will simply further ingrain incomplete and incorrect
>> assumptions and prejudices ;)
>>
>> Stephen
>> P.S. I fully believe kids should learn multiple languages and am not
>> looking for the "one ring to rule them all."  Each language/environment has
>> its advantages and we need multiple.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/attachments/20110911/58b98d61/attachment.html>