Preschool Programs

 Using our unique COMPUTERTOTS curriculum written BY educators FOR educators of preschool students, COMPUTER EXPLORERS teachers prepare the children of today for the academic and technology worlds of tomorrow!   Classes of three to four children use discovery and collaborative learning to  reinforce academic readiness skills in reading, math, and science as they work with computers, digital cameras, robots, electronic microscopes and iPads!

Integrated Technology Resource Program

Our curriculum meets and/or exceeds the National Educational Technology Standards and integrates project-based learning into core-curriculum for Kindergarten through 8th grade. Eight technology areas, from basic computer operations to writing HTML and Website design, cover a spectrum of skills defined by our proprietary scope and sequence.

Professional Development Courses

Our curriculum writers, all educators with classroom experience, know what teachers need in order to grow as professionals and to enhance student learning.  COMPUTER EXPLORERS courses cross the spectrum from using wikis, blogs and interactive white boards in elementary schools, to setting up an ergonomically correct learning center in a preschool classroom. 

---

TechStars

 The TechStars umbrella includes the after school and summer camp courses that utilize classroom content of science, math, language arts and social studies to create hands-on projects for extended learning.  Some schools opt to offer the courses as part of in-school electives.  Courses are updated regularly, and new courses are always in development.

 

2011 Course Catalog - New Classes!

This catalog is divided into six subject categories:

Engineering Courses

Basics to Building

Young children love to build! In this unique class they learn to do just that using both virtual and concrete materials. Our hands-on exploration of simple machines introduces students to the basic concepts of physical science, math & engineering. Their technology skills will grow, too, as their computer generated buildings take shape and amaze our young architects!

From Legs to Wings & Back  Again

Hands-on insect building & computer exploration bring nature study & engineering together in a big way! With our focus on Language Arts & Reading, Math & Science Readiness, this course is a great all-around adventure for the youngest learners.

Rocketeering

Design and build your own rocket, then launch it with compressed air! This course demonstrates the basics of aeronautics, including thrust, drag and ballast. You’ll have a blast!!

Fungineering

Experiment with Lego’s to build super-cool vehicles that move! First explore simple machines – levers, pulleys, wheels -- to create Lego nutcrackers, fishing reels, and free-wheeling cars -- then combine them with gears to build wind-powered land yachts and racing dragsters. Create your own amazing race in this FUN class that teaches beginning principles of enGINEERING!

Introduction to 3D Visualization

No amount of “huffing and puffing” will blow our buildings down! Understanding and visualizing dimension is the cornerstone of engineering, architecture, and building. Students learn principles of construction and use math skills as they experiment with scale and size, symmetry and reflections, staggering vs. stacking. In a hands-on class using LEGO® materials, we’ll build houses with removable roofs, castles with turrets, and towers of strength!

Alternative Energy -Beginning

Make them GO!

Discover how to use wind, solar, water and hand-crank electricity to power vehicles.  Since the beginning of civilization humans have looked for sources of energy.  Now it’s your turn to engineer alternative energy machines and explore renewable energy sources.  Whether it’s a car, helicopter or bulldozer, alternative energy will power it!

Robotics Courses

My First Look at Robotics

Meet Roamer - a child-friendly robot just waiting to follow your child’s commands! Even our youngest students will be able to program this robot to dance, help tell stories & play music as they are introduced to robotics & programming in an entertaining way.

Programming with Bee-Bot®

Bee-Bot has buzzed into town to help us learn about robots and programming. Students will give Bee-Bot commands to program his movements. With hands-on fun and minds-on creativity, Bee-Bot will spark the youngest imaginations.

Hands-on Robotics

Our robot, Roamer, can turn, draw, measure, do math & even make music.  Our students learn how robotics & programming go hand-in-hand as they write programs & give commands for Roamer to follow.

Robotics 1 with NXT

Get ready to take control!  Using the NXT brick from LEGO®, students will build robots, program them to accomplish tasks, respond to external stimuli, and overcome challenges.  Challenges will involve navigation, avoiding and/or climbing over obstacles and moving objects.  Students will control the robot with the NXT programming language, and learn fundamental software programming techniques. Get your brains in gear and your robots moving in this course!

Robotics 2 with NXT

Can a robot clean your room, do your homework or mow the lawn? In this course, students will build and program complex robots that move in different ways and perform complicated tasks. Use the robot as an automated sentry, to check office doors, to listen and look for intruders. Use it to go into dangerous places to check for obstacles, and pick up explosive objects. Use it to perform tasks that involve repetition and accuracy. The course will help get you ready to participate in a robotics competition team. Move over NASA! We’re on the move!!

Let’s Do Robotics

Yes, We CAN learn about Robotics! With the LEGO™ WeDo Robotics System, young children can build and program their own robotic creations. Designed by the experts at MIT, this unique system teaches children about simple machines, engineering, programming and so much more. Young imaginations soar!

Rock & Roll Robotics

Create robots that rock and robots that roll! Using the LEGO™ WeDo Robotics System your robots will include a monkey that plays a drum to a rock & roll beat, a lion that roars, a bird that flaps its wings to create a big wind, a sleeping giant who will awaken on your command and a boat that will rock on the rough seas. This course builds knowledge of simple machines, engineering, programming, and teamwork in an environment full of Rockin’ Fun!

Razzle Dazzle Robotics

Move over, Hermione and Harry!

Build a magic wand that makes amazing things happen on the computer: one shake of the wand and the computer does your bidding! Build your own robot puppet that makes an animal dance on the screen. This special course uses the most innovative tools available to build robots with sensors that communicate and control the computers. Dazzle your friends with what you create AND what you learn!

Programming Courses

Bee-Bot® & the Computer

Bee-Bot, the robot, has a lot to share with us on the computer. Young programmers will be able to write their own programs to send the computer Bee-Bot through a number of courses and missions. Then the best part is programming our real Bee-Bot to do the same thing on the floor! Students will relate the virtual computer activity to the concrete 3-dimentional one!

MicroWorlds, Jr. ™  & Logo Programming

Our youngest students take control as they create programs to give commands to an on-screen turtle. Logo programming teaches children to use icons to give directions (in a logical sequence) as they create their own micro world.

Race to the Future

Stretch your brain, explore your creativity, and have a great time with computers and robots!  Using software written specifically for young children, TechStars boys and girls will explore the basics of computer programming using a virtual turtle, and follow it by programming a robot shaped like a car.  Full speed ahead for a fun time and lots of learning!

Technical Art & Design

The newest in robotics and programming fun is the PicoCricket®. Design and create your own creatures, sculptures or 3-D art, then program the devices for action! Make a cat and program it to purr when someone pets it. Make a birthday cake and program it to play a song when someone blows out the candles. Make a bobble-head with multiple heads that jiggle and jump on command. Your imagination is the main ingredient!

Programming with Pro-Bot

Beginning & Intermediate

Race to the Future! Pro-Bot is a robot designed for kids and shaped like a car! Write programs on the computer and download them to Pro-Bot. Use arrows and numbers, light, touch and sounds sensors, and practice cause and effect when you program Pro-Bot to zoom around at your command! There’s no stopping the fun or the learning in this fast-paced class!

3D Programming…Design, Discover, Dream-up!

Using Alice, an innovative 3D programming software you’ll design animation for an interactive game, movie or story.  This object-oriented program is fun and challenging, as you discover the worlds of computer science and programming by using 3D graphics in a virtual world.  Let your imagination soar…if you can dream-up a concept, you can design it!

Logo Programming 1

Logo is a programming language created just for kids! Using icons, commands & mathematical operations, students control the movements of an on-screen turtle. As the students’ skills grow, the challenges & problems they solve increase in complexity. This course provides students with a great introduction to programming!

Logo Programming 2

Students learn more advanced ways to use Logo’s icons, commands & mathematical operations to control the movements of an on-screen turtle. Students build logical and sequential thinking skills as they enter the world of programming.

Video Game Animation 1

Dive into the world of video game animation by creating characters that dance, sing and interact with one another.  Add sound effects and music clips to create a dynamic video animation game using Scratch, the innovative programming language created just for kids by the MIT Media Lab.  You can post your game online so that your friends, your parents, even your grandmother can play your video game!  Creativity rules in this fun version of video game design!

Video Game Animation 2

One you start, you don’t want to stop! Add to your previous video animation, or start from “Scratch” with an all-new creation. New skills and creative adventures await the experienced Scratch programmer!

Video Game Design

Build Arcade Games - Design, create and edit your own 2-dimentional arcade-style video game: design the action, create the characters, and edit the outcomes. Take home a CD with your game on it so that you can challenge your friends and family! AND you’ll receive a copy of the software at the last session so that you can add to your game when the class is over!

Programming with REALbasic®

Basic Fun! Learn programming concepts and write your own simple computer games to amaze your friends! Write your own game of Pong! Write Tic-Tac-Toe so that you can be SURE to beat the computer…and beat your friends! Game programming with REALbasic® introduces an actual programming language with code that you can read and modify to make changes in the game play.

App Camp 1

Google App Inventor for Kids!

Learn how to make an Android phone come alive with your own apps! Write your own math practicing apps, voice recognition, remote controller, compass, altimeter, and much more. Some Android phones will be provided, but if you have one, bring it to test it out!

Digital/Graphic Arts Courses  

Under the Microscope

Guess what we discover under the microscope? Together we will explore a whole new world of learning and excitement. Using a child-friendly digital microscope, students will explore the concepts of magnification, science, nature study & digital editing.

Digital Moviemaking & Storytelling

Let’s make a movie together! We’ll sing songs, tell stories & learn how to use a digital camera as we create our own masterpieces. We will do it all - from filming the movie & downloading it to a computer to storyboarding & adding special effects. Watch out Hollywood - we are on our way!

Intro to Digital Photography

Students enter a digital photography center to experiment with using photos to create puppets, movies, special effects & more! First we will learn how to take a good digital picture & then we will practice fun digital editing techniques as we create our projects. This course offers young students a chance to practice Language Arts & Reading Readiness skills in a fun & exciting way!

Clay Animation 1

Clay & animation - what a perfect combination! Working in teams, students do it all - from story creation to making the characters & sets. As they learn the production process, they will animate, record, download, assemble & edit their own movies. Fun, learning & excitement go hand-in-hand in this special class.

Clay Animation 2

As students’ technical skills grow, so will the complexity of the animation projects they create. Student teams will develop a script & create a storyboard for production. Students will use state-of-the-art cameras, software & computers to bring their own characters & models to life.

Choose Your Own Cartoon Adventure

Transfer yourself into a 2-dimensional cartoon! Students create a toon in their own image from hundreds of customizable clipart images … and then create a cartoon strip featuring custom backgrounds, speech bubbles, wacky toons, and special effects. As animators, directors and producers, students record sound and dialogue to make their cartoon adventure come alive in video.

Dinosaur Discovery

Budding paleontologists learn about dinosaurs and the techniques used in extracting fossils in this hands-on class. Go on your own fossil dig, analyze and assemble skeleton pieces, produce a fossil reconstruction, create a mural…and take home a movie documentary of your discoveries!

Digital Moviemaking

Join us for the COMPUTER EXPLORERS Film Festival. Students create all the artistic elements for their movies including characters, costumes & sets. They handle all of the movie’s technical details including using a digital movie camera, digital editing & special effects. They will bring their final movies home on CD for all to see.

The Microscopic World

Students will use The Scientific Method as they study specimens, run experiments and learn about the microscopic world. By using a unique digital microscope, they will also explore the computer side of science with digital photography & editing techniques.

Digital Photography & Me

Digital photography offers young learners a wonderful tool to explore, create & learn about the world. Our young photographers will create their own books, stories & unique projects using our special editing software.

Lights, Camera, Action

Join us as we become the writers, directors, actors, animators, special effects creators & editors of our own movie productions. From storyboarding to filming, student teams will make all of the creative & technical decisions. They will bring their final movies home on CD for all to see.

It’s a Small World

It may be a small world but with our digital microscope, we will be able to see it in action! Our young scientists will observe & collect information about natural & manmade specimens as they learn more about the microscopic world around them. Using digital editing techniques, students will explore how to change these specimens into creative works of art.

Digital Photography & Adobe Basics

Students learn to use state-of-the-art Adobe Photoshop Elements software to improve & transform their own digital photographs. Using these new skills they will create imaginative & unique projects!

Up Close Science

Students will explore the natural world using a digital microscope, natural & manmade specimens, and use the scientific method. As scientists, they will be encouraged to explore these specimens, collect data & form their own hypotheses on how materials & organisms function.

Adobe Photoshop® Elements Plus

Students will transform their own digital images into unique works of art as they explore advanced graphic arts tools. As their skills grow & their imaginations soar, so will their excitement for the projects they will be able to create. These skills will begin a life-long adventure in the digital arts!

Claymation Cinema

Students will perfect their skills as claymation cinematographers as they create their own unique productions. Using the same tools used by today’s best known animators, this course will spark their imaginations & then give them the tools to bring their ideas to life.

Blockbuster Blogs!

Share your thoughts and opinions with the world! Have you ever wanted to be an armchair movie critic? Review your favorite video games? Share your fashion “no-no’s”? In this course, the world's eyes and ears are at your fingertips! Images, text and video-casts will be part of your personal blog. By the end of this course, you will be on your way to becoming a famed Internet Journalist!

Wik-tastic Wiki’s

Share your expertise! Work with your team to create a wiki page dedicated to the solar system, stamp collecting, LEGO’s, jewelry-making, your favorite TV show or movie. Add a podcast reviewing the latest film, discovery of a new star, or how to create a mythical creature using LEGO bricks. This course guides you through the steps to create your own collaborative wiki website with podcasts.

Once Upon a Comic Book!

Write and design your own comic book tales about princesses, goblins, genies and princes. Create your own characters (even scary looking monsters!) for your comic book scenes. Animate your story and see it come to life in a special comic book player.

Comic Book Heroes

BECOME A COMIC BOOK HERO!

Transform yourself into an environmental superhero and help solve one of the earth’s biggest problems. Use innovative comic book software, digital art and your own photos to illustrate your solution. Be creative; be inspired; be a hero!

Multimedia Madness

Beginning Level:

Use your creativity to explain the world! Explore the depths of the ocean, the far reaches of outer space, the Egyptian pyramids or even a fantasy world! In this course, your imagination is your only limitation! Tell stories, create images, use animation and add sound effects. By the end of this course, you will have unleashed your creative side!

Int. & Adv. Level:

Let your creativity soar as you develop worlds filled with wonder, sounds and animation! Write stories, construct inventions, simulate an experiment or build animated sequences. If you can imagine it, you can create it in this course!

Podcasting Pizzazz

Move over iCarly, it’s our turn to podcast! In this 6-session class, you’ll learn to create your own slide show full of your favorite things and have it posted on the Internet! Sign up today – then tell your family and friends to get ready to log on and be impressed!

Green Screen Adventures

Climb Mount Everest, swim the depths of the ocean, or battle dinosaurs! Using a green screen and special photo-editing techniques, you will venture into real or imaginary locations and film the trip to share with friends. Experiment with photos and unique drawing software to set the scene for fantastic adventures. Don’t stay at home – jump into a green screen and find yourself some fun!

SKETCH IT IN 3D

Let your imagination run wild – learn how to build amazing 3D models of anything you want!  Develop the mansion of your dreams with performance cars in the driveway, fabulous furniture, tennis courts, swimming pools and beautiful gardens.  Or how about an awesome castle, race track or your own skate park?  During this course, students will learn to draw 3D shapes, develop them into models and import ready-made components to enhance their projects.

3D Video Worlds

3D Video Game Design, Level I:

Learn the fundamentals involved in creating your own 3D video game world! With a simple click and roll of a mouse wheel you can modify your world however you want.  You will develop and storyboard your design, and place animals, trees, characters, and other items in your own virtual world!  You will also learn the basic subsystems and scripting entailed in a 3D game system.  If you like 2-D, you will love 3-D!!

Look Who’s Talking

Be an animation master! Animate your friends, your family members, your pets or even common household objects. What about the school bus? You KNOW it has tales to tell! Your pets’ every day adventures will make hilarious scripts. Using state of the art software, you will be able to turn any image into an animation. Create a script and bring your animated characters to life with moving eyes and a mouth that won’t quit talking!

Music Producer Level 1 & Music Producer Level 2

Hip Hop, Rock n Roll, Ballads or Reggae ... write music in class and publish it online!  This course will have you creating music in a heartbeat... whether you edit sounds, use instruments, add vocals or write music note by note, with over 5000 sounds and your imagination, the musical possibilities are endless!  (An international online contest will be judged by professional musicians.)Tell mom to clear off the bookcase now to make room for your award later!

Music Toolkit  Beginner

Music! Music!! Music!!

Students will create their own sound space while learning about music and sequencing, rhythm and beat in this “note-worthy” course for ages 6-8! Encourage your child to explore his/her creative side; at the end of the sessions, he will write his own musical composition to share.

ScrapHappy

Don’t keep your photos and your memories on your computer or in a box under your bed! Fun parties, hanging out with friends, dance recitals, camping trips and football games are part of your life … share them with friends and family in online scrapbooks. No fancy scissors or lacy paper necessary to make a creative design; let the computer and the software do all the work, while you have all the fun! Bring your friends to class too!!

Create a Superstory

Magical eBooks

eBooks are eXtraordinary, and your child may be a budding author! Pirates and princesses, unicorns and robot wrestlers can come to life as children ages 6-8 write original stories, animate the drawings, add sound effects and publish the books on a special Website for kids We may even experiment with “augmented reality” that makes our characters run off the page!  One way or another, it’s run away fun for COMPUTER EXPLORERS!

Produce Your Own TV Show

Be the on-air reporter or producer of a news, weather, sports or cooking show!  You devise the format, write the script, record video clips and add special effects.  You and your friends might be the next TV sensation, so let the credits roll!

Office Skills Courses

TechTots Technology

Does your three-year-old love the computer, but gets frustrated when the mouse doesn’t go where she wants it to go?  Or does he click too many times, and the action gets frozen?  Our unique course will have your 3 ready to teach you the tricks of technology!  Following our proprietary scope and sequence, the young students will learn basic computer operations, familiarize themselves with the keyboard, practice desktop skills with pull-down menus…and HAVE FUN!  At the end of the course, each student will take home a multi-media slide show that demonstrates his/her new skill!  Watch out, Bill Gates!!  The new generation is on its way!!

Kindergarten Advantage!

Using specially designed age-appropriate software, young children will begin to learn about keyboarding computer graphics, word processing & spreadsheets. Emergent reading & computer skills are combined to create a powerful learning dynamic!

Totally Technology - Beginning.

Build skills, create projects & have fun, too! Using our unique delivery system, students learn powerful technology skills as they create their own projects. Course topics include keyboarding, word processing, graphics, multimedia presentations, databases, spreadsheets, & Internet usage.

Totally Technology - Intermediate

Students will use technology in challenging ways as they create their own projects. Course topics include keyboarding, word processing, graphics, multimedia presentations, databases, spreadsheets, & Internet usage.

Totally Technology - Advanced

Students build a repertoire of advanced level skills as they work on their own projects. Course topics include keyboarding, word processing, graphics, multimedia presentations, databases, spreadsheets & Internet usage.

Dream Vacation

Plan the vacation of your dreams! In Dream Vacation you do it all - from researching & choosing a destination, to creating a budget, an itinerary & an impressive proposal. Students build technology & decision-making skills in this unique class.  Let’s order our passports now!

It’s Your Business

Calling all entrepreneurs! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to own your own business? In this class students start from scratch by brainstorming different home-based business opportunities, then use their technology skills to get their businesses up and running. From designing a logo and web site to creating income statements, students will do it all. It’s never too early to start honing your business skills!

School Pride

Show off your school! In this advanced level class, students design a marketing program: they will show off their schools and their skills! From designing a school logo and banner to publishing a yearbook, students will do it all! Students’ skills soar as they demonstrate their school pride!

It’s Your Life

Where will you be at age 25?  Students will expand their knowledge of spreadsheets, and learn valuable life-lessons as they imagine themselves at age 25. Each student will start a new job with a salary.  Some will work on Wall Street, some will work in a retail store. Some will be married, and a few will even have children! As they envision their own lives at this point, they will learn to budget their money and pay their bills. School never looked so good!

Thinking & Academic Skills Courses

Around the World – Spanish

Around the World – French

Around the World – Japanese

Around the World is a Child’s Passport to Fun & Learning! This course combines the use of exciting computer software and hands-on activities to introduce young children to the Spanish, French or Japanese culture, geography and language. Students will sing songs, play games, create artwork and celebrate cultural festivals as they virtually travel the world to visit a number of different Spanish, French or Japanese speaking countries.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Beginning & Intermediate -

Crime Scene Investigation: Use logic, your senses and forensic science to solve crimes. Learn how to work the field scene and the laboratory end of CSI. We’ll use finger printing, tire tread patterns and much more! Each lesson will focus on a new forensic skill which will lead to solving a final investigation. No blood, no gore…but excitement galore!

(Younger students solve the mystery “Who Stole the Birthday Cake?” Older students investigate a mysterious break-in at the neighbor’s garage.)

The Ultimate Ride

It’s your turn. You finally get a chance to design & build the roller coaster of your dreams! After you have finished building your coaster using state-of-the-art computer programming, you will actually get to see what the coaster will feel like from a variety of positions within or outside the car. Design, build and ride a roller coaster that is just right for you!

Roller Coaster Tycoon

Create the theme park of your dreams! You are the designer of a park as large & exciting as you make it. Include a variety of rides, from a gentle train ride to the eye-popping roller coasters & thrill rides found in the real Six Flags® amusement parks. Manage an existing Six Flags® park or create your own park from scratch.

Carnival Chaos.

Join the characters of the PBS Kids show, Cyberchase, as they go on a mission to help save the carnival. You will need to use your greatest problem solving skills to figure out the challenging puzzles & games.

Zoombinis

Help the Zoombinis to rescue their lost friends! You will need to form rescue parties & then use your problem solving skills to work through a series of missions to find & rescue them. Many highly challenging missions await you!

Science Investigators

Our young investigators listen to the evidence while science is put to the test in a court of law. Students learn scientific concepts about work,  simple machines and electrical current while they enjoy this animated approach to learning. With computer analysis and hands-on experiments, they are sure to come to the right verdict.

Adventures with GPS Receivers

Get a new perspective on the world! Small groups using hand-held Global Positioning Systems will search for treasure caches and leave replacement “valuables” for another adventurous group to find, play geogolf and go geodashing! Learn the fundamentals of GPS technology and its practical uses in this outdoor, action-based class.