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Creation in the Micro World EUREKA

 


General Introduction

        Eureka is a kind of software with which we can create simple programs for children. In Eureka there are 7 types and 74 pieces of objects from which we can choose the ones we need to create our programs. They are 6 showing pieces (lamp, colors, etc.), 3 timing pieces (watches), 7 sound pieces (e.g.. animal cries, loud-speaker sound, etc.), 20 number pieces (e.g. counter, signs of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, comparison, etc.), 9 interrupter pieces (e.g. divisor with 2, 3, or 4 exits, touch-pression, button-pression, etc.), 13 text pieces (e.g. name, list of messages, etc.), 6 super pieces (e.g. heart, canon, solar system, etc.). The most interesting pieces are the super pieces. E.g. in the solar system, you can choose among 8 planets, i.e. Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Sauterne, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. And then you can choose the differences in diameter, day, distance from the sun, mass, density, gravity, orbital velocity. For example, if you create a program in which you want  the pupil to find the difference between the gravity of the Earth and that of the Mars, you can choose Mars and then gravity. When the pupil gives his weight on Earth, he can find how much he weighs on Mars. This is more interesting to the curious pupils.

My Eureka Program

       Objective
         The objective of my Eureka program is to reinforce the subtractive ability of a pupil aging 9-13 years old. My intention is to ask the pupil to do the exercises step by step. He has time to give the numbers which he wants to deal with, and he has time to think of the answers, and at last he knows whether the answer is right or wrong. If it is wrong, he can do it again or has a way to learn the correct answer.

         Description
         My Eureka program consists of three steps. The first step is to put in two numbers in the two number cases. The first one is simpler since it needs only to click on the small triangles to enter the number. For the second one, we should first enter a  number and then click on ENTER, otherwise it will not work. In this way the pupil will have time to reflect whether the numbers he has entered are the ideal ones.
          The second step is to enter an answer in the number case and then click on ENTER like the above one. If the answer is correct the lamp will be on otherwise it will keep off. Now the pupil can do the calculation again by entering a new answer, or if he find it is too difficult he can find the correct answer in the following step.
          The third step is, if the lamp is not on, that is to say, the answer is not correct, push on the mouse and the correct answer will be shown.

Difficulties in the Creating the Program
         During the creation of the program, I encountered two overlapping difficulties: to know what we can do with the objects and to find an idea. First of all we should get familiar with all the objects. And then we can decide what we can do with them. I spent a whole day trying every one of the objects and at the same time trying to find an idea. I did want to create something more interesting, for example with the super pieces. But I failed since I don't think it is useful just to enter a number and find the result directly. I tried also the "heart" with all the items there, e.g. the weight of the adults, animals and so on. I tried the difference of the Fahrenheit degrees and the Celsius degrees too. Still I didn't find anything useful. At last I went back to the calculations and I decided to do something simple and useful. Even creating  this simple program, without the help of Prof.Mendelsohn, I don't know how much time I would have spent on it and whether I would have given it up or not.