Roboprince

The site I chose to critique is from an Ohio PBS group called ThinkTV. I like it because it makes engineering understandable for school age children. There is a video component which captures my student's interest and always prompts further questions and discussion. There is a lesson plan component for teachers which I have used successfully with my introductory classes. It is well put together with good graphics and multimedia; and sets a good stage for students to accept the complexity of some of the math and science basics required for studying engineering.
I actually find no weakness in the site.

http://www.thinktv.org/education/engineeringyourfuture/engineeringyourfuture.html

Victor

On a personal level, I think video games are a great way to gain student's attention and interest. Problem for me is I barely have time to incorporate all of the administratively-approved activities for my classroom (including my lesson plans and semester objectives). I have no time to create anything that adds-value for my students, and I'm not sure I can find a game that already exists that would either. While I see the value, I don't see the time to realistically accomplish this with the semester underway. I'm interested how others will incorporate them into their classes.
For me, this will be another technique for my Teacher's Toolbox, something that I can hopefully integrate into future classes at work.

I have never used powerpoint games in the classroom. If this turns out being what I think it is; I will probably try to create some type of robotic simulation involving movement and directional motion (vectors, geometry, etc.). The purpose would be for my students to actually create the paths for robots before actually having it built and programmed. I think this would prove very useful.

Victor