Body Works 6.0

BodyWorks 6.0 is a three dimensional journey through the human anatomy. This software is full of Rotating 3-D models, videos, animation, audio and a powerful search features which provides the user with detailed information right at his fingertips. The most fascinating part of this software is the “virtual lecturer”. The lecturer explains the various parts of the human anatomy while rotating 3-D models are present on screen. Unbelievable, soon there may be no need for teachers and lecturers.

Some features of this software are:
• More than 1,500 topics and 400,000 words of text
• More than 160 images including 80 rotating 3-D models
• 15 lectures presented by your virtual instructor
• More than 1,800 anatomic and 300 medical terms defined
• Correct pronunciation of more than 1,400 anatomic terms

This program is very useful for teachers and students in the field of Science or Biology. Children will really be captivated by this interactive look on what is going on inside all of us as it caters for multiple intelligences.
This software can be purchased for about Twenty U.S dollars at Amazon’s website. A video showing how to install this software can be seen below.


References:
Body works. Retrieved on 13th March, 2010 from
http://www.amazon.com/Medical-Library-Body-Works-Version/dp/B00003IEGE

TINA / TINA-TI

TINA is a powerful circuit design and simulation tool. This software allows the user to construct or design circuits and test them with a variety of current and voltage sources. Without having to physically build the circuits, this program can save time and money. Why money?.........because you don’t have to actually purchase the components. Also, if a circuit is badly designed, you don’t risk damaging expensive components like ICs. One of the main advantages of this software is that it isolates the student from electric shock......It’s all software, no hardware. Take a closer look at TINA’s features in the video below:



The program is basic enough to be used by secondary school students in the field of Electronics and Physics as well as tertiary level students. The features of this program actually turn your PC into a virtual Electronic lab. There is a free version called TINA-TI with less functionality which can be downloaded here. The manual can be downloaded here and the FAQ here.

TINA-TI (which is the free version) is ideal for designing, testing, and troubleshooting a wide variety of basic and advanced circuits, including complex architectures, without any node or number of device limitations. Some features of this software are:
1) It provides all the conventional DC, transient and frequency domain analysis of SPICE and much more.
2) It has extensive post-processing capability that allows you to format results the way you want them and
3) Virtual instruments allow you to select input waveforms and probe circuit nodes voltages and waveforms.
This software will certainly be beneficial to all schools interested in Electronics and/or Physics.

References:
SPICE-Based Analogue Simulation Program. Retrieved on 4th March, 2010 from
http://focus.ti.com/lit/ug/sbou052a/sbou052a.pdf

Dr. Seuss Toddler

Dr. Seuss Toddler is another type of educational software which uses a combination of drill and problem solving activities within a game setting. The software as the name implies, is intended for children between two and four years of age. It has seven colourful activities which are hosted by “The Cat in the Hat”. These activities focus on numbers, letters, shapes, colours, matching, sounds, body parts and music.
This software can be purchased for about ten U.S dollars at Amazon’s website. A few years ago, I purchased this software and used it with my children. I found it to be very useful in that it caters for multiple intelligences from a very young age. The content is also very appropriate for the age group and also very interactive. The software also helps the child to obtain mouse control skills and promotes the early use of computers which is very important in this new age of technology.
The bright, vibrant graphics in this program are very attractive to children. They can learn their ABCs by singing along with “Fox in Socks”, find the right body part to tickle the “Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz”, play a shape matching game with the “Little Cats in Hats”, make music with the “Seussville Band”, listen to Mr Brown and play "What Makes That Sound." Moreover, the software can be configured so that no mouse clicks are necessary. Children can just move the mouse and something happens onscreen. As children play the activities, they are rewarded with stamps for hats that they can colour and print out. A second CD features a printable workbook with pages to colour. After purchasing this software, I had no regrets.
For more information and reference click here

Dr. DivX

Dr. DivX is a software which allows the you to compress almost any video format to Mpeg 4 or DivX format. Dr. DivX can convert most input files including MPEG_1, MPEG_2, VOB, AVI, MOV, FLV, MP4, and AVISynth scripts to DivX. In terms of “quality video output”, it’s one of the best software on the market. I was able to compress six movie videos onto a single DVD! That’s a real space saver. This software can be very handy for shrinking some educational videos which you may want to show to your students. The compressed videos can then be copied to your flash drive, hard drive or a single DVD when space seems to be running out. Also, you may want to upload some videos on YouTube for example, this software allows you to compress them before uploading in order to save space and time. You can also use the software to select only a portion of the video you want to use, or to cut off the beginning of the video (like the intros) and the end of it (like the credits). The video below shows you how to use Dr. DivX. The latest version of the software is 2.0.0 Beta, and is released under the LGPL license, which means it’s free. You can download it here. There’s also an F.A.Q here.

Software discriptions coming soon