The Constructopedia was a browsable, interactive database, designed to help children build structures, mechanisms, and computer programs as well as to make connections to the mathematical and scientific ideas underlying those constructions. Whereas encyclopedias focus on "what is," the Constructopedia focused on "how to" and "what if." The Constructopedia was intended as a communal resource in which children not only get access to building tips, but also contribute their own ideas and designs.