MOOSE Crossing was an educational MOO

MOO

A MOO is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time.The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses...

 (a type of MUD

MUD

A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...

, a text-based virtual world

Virtual world

A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...

) developed by Amy S. Bruckman

Amy S. Bruckman

Amy Susan Bruckman is an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology affiliated with the School of Interactive Computing and the GVU Center. She is best known for her pioneering research in the fields of online communities and the learning sciences...

 in 1996 as her doctoral dissertation work. It employed a constructionist learning

Constructionist learning

Constructionist learning is inspired by the constructivist theory that individual learners construct mental models to understand the world around them. However, constructionism holds that learning can happen most effectively when people are also active in making tangible objects in the real world...

 pedagogical approach and was designed for teaching children 9 to 13 years of age. Bruckman's work on MOOSE Crossing and MediaMOO was called "the most notable MOO research in education". The MOO closed in 2007 after 11 years online.

MOOSE Crossing used specialized client software, called MacMOOSE for the Macintosh version and WinMOOSE for the Windows version.