The Future of Education

The Ludoteca of Registro .it (www.ludotecaregistro.it) is a project of the Institute of Informatics and Telematics of the CNR (Italian National Research Council) in Pisa, sponsored by the Garante per l’Infanzia e l’Adolescenza (Authority for the Protection of Children). The main aim is teaching primary school children a safer and more responsible use of the internet. In order to spread the Internet culture, the Ludoteca of Registro .it, in collaboration with Giunti Os, developed the application “Internetopoli” (www.internetopoli.it), a multimedial instrument to discover the Internet world with texts, graphic representations, quizzes, video tutorials, presentations and film inserts. Children can also watch funny web cartoons from the series “Let’s navigate safely with Professor Ittì”, which teach how to use the Internet safely.

Internetopoli is the Internet city, a metaphor that explains well all themes of the 8 levels: history, structure, function of the Internet, the domain names, the Internet of things and smart cities. The app scenarios, similar to a cartoon or videogame, are child friendly.

The user can choose just a few topics, deciding to click only one of the eight “dots” in the footer (corresponding to the eight levels) and various “hotspots”, hidden in the city scenarios. The app is freeware and suitable for interactive whiteboards.