RoboMind 2.2.1 -- Open Source Version

I downloaded this program the other night and played around with it for about an hour. You can operate the robot remotely to get an idea of how he moves around before actually writing a program script. Robo can move forward and back and turn around 360 degrees in either direction. Robo can also paint in white or black -- he trails the paint from behind him as he moves along in a forward direction. He can write stuff like the word ROBOT. There are example scripts that you can open and use before writing your own. Example two: find the white spot -- looks like this:

repeat(){
if(leftIsWhite()){
# There's a white spot on your left
left()
forward(1)
end
}
else{
# There's no white spot yet
forward(1)
}
}

"ROBO is a new and very simple educational programming language that will familiarize you with the basics of computer science. You will also be introduced into popular programming techniques, and you will gain an insight into areas such as robotics and artificial intelligence. These skills will be gained by creating programs for a robot.

RoboMind is meant to be a first introduction to automation and programming without prerequisites. Because many different exercises can be made, the difficulty level can be tailored to the audience. In primary education pupils can get acquainted to writing commands to navigate the robot through its environment, on high school programming structures get more attention and universities focus on the theoretical aspects of automation theory like Turing machines."

The version that I downloaded is the open source version and it is free. It was a very small download only taking up 1.62 KB of space.
ROBOMIND

Funbrain -- Math Arcade

Funbrain Math Arcade


In the Math Arcade at Funbrain.com students can practice their math skills while having fun. Students first have to create a user name, choose a skill level, gender and game piece to play with. The game board layout is similar to that of Candyland.
Once they have correctly answered all of the questions correctly and beat the level their game piece advances on the game board. There are multiple levels of learning going on in this arcade. If students aren't being challenged they can choose a harder skill level. If they want to save their game they are given a simple password that they can use the next time they visit the site. The games are all unique. The only drawback that I found with this site is that students can easily navigate away from the site with or without knowing it. Funbrain offers all kinds of educational games but I found that the math arcade portion the most worthwhile.

Sammy's Science House

Publisher: Riverdeep

age range: PreK-2

price: call for pricing

RIVERDEEP

Sammy's Science House has five activities with multiple levels of learning for children. At the Sorting Station they learn the names of plants, animals, rocks, and fungi. Kids sort fish from birds or plants from trees. There are friendly cartoon bins that smile when the correct item is place in it. In the Workshop kids follow blueprints and build robots, trucks and boats. Over at Acorn Pond they can explore the field notebook finding great sketches and fun facts about the animals. Acorn Pond changes with the seasons and students can see how animal habitats change as well. In the Movie Making station kids can make a movie by putting frames of film in logical sequences. There is also a Weather Station where students can make their own weather with the assistance of a friendly talking bear. Kids experiment with temperature, wind, and precipitation. Kids will learn how different variables affect weather and find different weather terms.

I have used this program faithfully for a few years now. Kids love it. The characters are funny and exciting. The graphics are quite good. The educational games are fun and challenging. There are multiple levels of learning available so kids are challenged more often. This software covers mostly science learning standards.

Edheads.com -- Simple Machines

Edheads – Simple Machines

This site is one of the best I have found for exploring simple and compound machines.

I would have my students use Google.com and tell them to type in Edheads and click on the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. Once they get to the site they all click on the Simple Machines tab. Students can either explore “The House” or “The Tool Shed”. I have them start with “The House” because this is where the simple machines are found and after that they can move to the tool shed for more advanced compound machines. In the house there are four rooms to explore. A friendly orange robot welcomes you into whatever room you choose. He asks if you can look around and find ten simple machines in that room. In the garage for example there is a car on a lift and if you click on the wheel of the car a window pops up and you have to answer a few multiple choice questions about wheels. The first question asks what wheels allow the care to do and the choices are 1) Fly through the air. 2) Help catch fish 3) Launch into outer space or 4) Drive and roll. The second question asks what kind of simple machine a wheel is. After answering the second question you click the continue button and you are show a motion graphic with text. The text explains how wheels and axles reduce friction and allow cars to move around freely. The graphic shows a rolling wheel/tire moving back and forth to help the viewer grasp this concept. The graphics are bright and cartoon-like with soft lines and edges which makes the learning fun and friendly.

In “The Tool Shed” students are greeted by the friendly orange robot again. The robot explains that compound machines are made up of two or more simple machines. He gives and example referring to a can-opener and how it uses gears, a lever and a wedge to get a job done. After the intro you are prompted to choose one of the four compound machines to begin. There is a wheelbarrow, stapler, hand-cranked drill and the aforementioned can-opener. If you click on the stapler the robot tells a joke and then asks if you can find the two simple machines that make up the compound machine. After scrolling over the entire stapler you can see that certain parts of the stapler become highlighted in bright yellow indicating that this may be the simple machine you’re looking for. You click the top arm part of the stapler and a window with a question pops up again asking what simple machine it is. After you chose the correct answer you get a brief description of what a lever does and a motion graphic showing how effort, load and fulcrum come into play. The second part is the staple itself and finding out that the staple blade is a wedge is not an easy choice for students…they often choose wrong on first attempt. Again you get to see a motion graphic displaying a wedge with bright red arrows showing where force is applied and what happens when a wedge moved through a material such as a stack of papers.