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| Robot Source: luisvilla, cc-by-3.0, Flickr |
Do you remember Roamer Turtle? Sometimes the educational system comes up with something truly weird. All inventions are designed to improve our lives in some way. Whilst mobile phones and the internet have become indispensable, Roamer Turtle is something we probably could have managed without. Here are some of the strangest educational aids ever dreamed up.
Roamer Turtle
If, like me, you do remember Roamer Turtle your predominant recollection is probably, ‘what the heck is this all about’. Roamers were educational robots aimed at helping children to learn about directions. Basically you programmed them with precise instructions, and off they went. The original version is no longer produced, leaving it forever a mystery why this blob on wheels was called a ‘turtle’.
Infant Simulators
An infant simulator does exactly what it says on the tin. It simulates a real baby in the hope that it will annoy teenagers into avoiding pregnancy. Originally designed to be used as a sex education aid, the idea never really took off in mainstream schooling. This odd invention is now even more realistic, with an inbuilt computer assessing how well the ‘infant’ is cared for.
Bronkie The Bronchiasaurus
Bronkie was a bizarre gem designed to teach children about asthma. The game takes place in a prehistoric city where you play an asthmatic dinosaur called Bronkie. You have to find the clean air health machine by blowing away dust with your lungs, and hitting enemies with your dusters. Tragically the game is no longer available.
Geordie Racer
Based around the BBC educational TV series of the same name, this computer game was designed to supplement the shows and teach children about; well…that part is debatable. Looking at the game run-throughs on youtube, I would say, learning the points of a compass could be construed as being vaguely educational. But then there is the worrying anagrams level, which gets you to make words out of your pigeon character’s name. The game featured three pigeons, Star, Homer and Bonny- so you can imagine the fun you could have making words out of Bonny’s name.
In many classrooms in the late 80s to early 90s, the ginormous Acorn computer represented a ‘treat’ for pupils to play with only if they had finished all of their work. But as I remember rightly, those floppy disked games took forever to load, which meant usually most kids only had a short time to mess around on the anagrams round before it was back to their desks for some more worthwhile work. And a good thing it was too- Honestly, Bonny? What were the game developers thinking?
Teacher Robots
Some inventors are now going so far as to replace teachers with robots. In South Korea bizarre egg-shaped robots, with avatar faces have started teaching. They are controlled by distant teachers, and are pre-programmed to play games with the children. Whilst research and studies looking into pupil engagementhave found that technology aids learning, robots controlling classrooms seems a step too far.
In the continual search for ways to make teaching more engaging, inventors have come up with some brilliantly weird inventions. But sadly many of these are now confined to history. Watch this space, because who knows what they will come up with next.
Louise Blake is a new mum who owns a Boxer puppy called Harley. She’s passionate about education and loves a good gadget too.
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