Easy Mode Tour - Learn Tab Options

Here is Part III of the Easy Mode User Interface Tour -

The programs included in the Learn folder is actually geared more towards kids but grown-ups may find the information useful as well.




It has five options. These are –

• Science
• Language
• Math
• Paint
• Web Learn

Science

Clicking on the Science sub-folder as shown in the previous screen loads its options.




There are two options –Periodic Table and Planetarium.


Periodic Table

Clicking on the Periodic Table icon loads the program, which is actually Kalzium from the KDE Education project.




More than just a digital period table, the program actually provides tons of information not normally include with its print counterparts. You can bring up plot details via Miscellaneous  Plot Data.




Or view the periodic table based on State of Matter via Miscellaneous  Show State of Matter.




Aside from the various options available from the menu, you can click on a specific element to bring up more information. In the example, we clicked on Polonium (84). The window pops-up with its overview details.




Aside from the overview details, there are also Miscellaneous, Picture, Energies, Chemical Data, and Atomic Model (shown) entries.




Additional information is available at http://edu.kde.org/kalzium.


Planetarium




Clicking on the Planetarium icon loads up the program, which is actually KStars from KDE simply relabeled.




If it is your first time to run it, you will need to set it up. However a Set-up Wizard is conveniently included to guide you through the process.




Additional information is available at http://edu.kde.org/kstars.


Language

Like the other programs in the Science sub-folders, actually all the programs in the Learn sub-folder, the programs in the Language sub-folder are actually geared more towards kids.




Clicking on the Language icon brings up its sub-folder.




There are three options – Typing, Letter Game, and Hangman Game.


Typing

Clicking on the Typing icon loads up Tux Typing 2, an educational typing tutor for children. It features several types of gameplay, at a variety of difficulty levels. The menu screen is from that site and is slightly different from the one installed on your Asus Eee PC.

Additional information is available at http://tuxtype.sourceforrge.net.


Letter Game




Clicking on the Letter Game icon loads up KMessedWords, a simple mind-training game from the KDE Education Project in which you try to figure out scrambled words.




Additional information is available at http://edu.kde.org/kmessedwords/.


Hangman Game




Clicking on the Hangman Game icon loads up the classical game, which is actually KHangman from the KDE Education Project.




Additional information is available at http://edu.kde.org/khangman/.


Math




Clicking on the Math icon brings up the Math sub-folder which contains some very useful and educational applications.


Fraction Tutorial




Clicking on the Fraction Tutorial icon loads up a relabeled KBruch, a tutorial on fractions from the KDE Education Project.




Additional information on Kbruch is available at http://edu.kde.org/kbruch/.


TuxMath




Clicking on the TuxMath icon loads up Tux, of Math Command, a math edutainment program from the Tux4Kids Project. It stars Tux, the Linux mascot and is based on the classic arcade game "Missile Command." Tux must defend his cities. In this case, though, he must do it by solving math problems.

Additional information is available at http://tux4kids.alioth.debian.org/.


Geometry




Clicking on the Geometry icon loads up a relabeled Kig, an interactive program from the KDE Education Project for studying geometry. Kig stands for KDE Interactive Geometry. With Kig, which is meant to be a better version of programs like KGeo and KSeg, you can play in a pleasant and educational manner with mathematical figures.

You can also use Kig as a WYSIWYG tool to draw mathematical figures. Not only does Kig try to be compatible with all kind of formats of similar programs, it also exports the figure to an image or Xfig file. Because Kig is also a KPart application, you can use its integration in KDE, by embedding it in other applications or .kig files opening it directly in Konqueror without having to start Kig.




Additional information is available at http://edu.kde.org/kig.


Function Plotter




Clicking on the Function Plotter icon loads up a Function Plotter from the KDE Education Project.




Additional information is available at http://edu.kde.org/kmplot.


Paint




Clicking on the Paint icon loads up the Paint sub-folder, which has two programs – Paint and Tux Paint.


Paint




Clicking on the Paint icon brings up Paint, which is actually mPaint and is designed for creating icons and pixel-based artwork. It can edit indexed palette or 24 bit RGB images and offers basic painting and palette manipulation tools. It also has supports channels, layers and animation.





Tux Paint




Clicking on the Tux Paint icon brings up Tux Paint, an open source drawing program for children ages 3 to 12 . It combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program.
Kids are presented with a blank canvas and a variety of drawing tools to help them be creative.

Additional information is available at http://www.tuxpaint.org.


Web Learn




Clicking on the Web Learn icon loads http://www.skool.ie, an interactive learning site.