The most recent articles from Computeract!ve

Bridge Construction Set demo

Tim Smith — 2008-07-31T11:20:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Thursday 31 July 2008 at 11:20:00

Have fun building your own bridges

If you have ever wondered exactly how important all the cables on a suspension bridge are, this game will answer all your questions, and hopefully provide some fun as well.

The idea of Bridge Construction Set is to build a bridge that can not only support its own weight but that of cars and trains, all within a fixed budget. There are several different types of bridge and material that can be used.

Once the design has been finalised, the bridge is tested in two ways: to make sure that it does not fall down and then to see how it fare with traffic. It is possible to show the stress lines on the bridge, which is an essential tool for working out where weaknesses are.

The full version has forty levels including suspension bridges and drawbridges, fifteen different vehicles to test the bridge and a level editor to create your own scenarios.

Terry the Turtle: Education Software

Tim Smith — 2007-02-12T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Monday 12 February 2007 at 00:00:00

An educational classic updated

Readers who were at school in the heyday of the BBC Micro may remember the Logo software. It taught basic programming skills by controlling the movements of an onscreen turtle. Terry the Turtle updates this classic with better graphics and more challenges.

There are several activities supplied to keep children occupied. They vary from navigating a ship to a treasure island or flying a rocket through a meteorite band.

More advanced users can write a series of commands using a Logo-type language.

This trial version is time-limited with saving and printing disabled.

Terry the Turtle can be used as part of the following education levels:

England & Wales:

KS 1, 2 and 3. Supports the following QCA schemes of work:
2d Routes: controlling a floor turtle,

Programme of study, reference KS1 2c, 4a, 4b
4E Modelling effects on screen,

Programme of study, reference KS2 1c, 2a, 2c

You will need to supply a name and email address to download this software.

MapCreator

Tim Smith — 2006-03-07T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Tuesday 7 March 2006 at 00:00:00

Useful homework resource

MapCreator is a useful program for creating basic maps showing national borders and some natural features. This free version takes it information directly from the internet, the Personal edition is supplied with 2.4Gb of map data.

The opening screen shows a map of the whole world. Making a more specific map is as simple as selecting the area and MapCreator zooms in, automatically downloading extra information as required. Maps can include some satellite data, terrain height as well information about rivers, towns and cities.

It cannot match the detail of Google maps but is useful for quickly creating basic maps.