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Book Review

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I've read through Damien Kee's new book, "Classroom Activities for the Busy Teacher: NXT" and I'd like to offer some comments:

1. Damien's done a nice job of breaking his topics down into 10 weekly sessions, one topic per week. Some of the chapters I really liked included one on Flow Charts and another one on getting a stuck robot out of a tight spot.

2. He has complete CAD building instructions for a robot he calls Domabot that is used throughout the workbook. He also provides CAD BIs for 3 different attachments that are used in various experiments. The CAD BIs are very easy to follow and are easy to read. Damien mixes CAD with photos to show you how what a final setup will look like.

3. One very nice feature that he's apparently put a lot of time into are his worksheets. They are nicely done and he provides them for all the book's activities.

4. Teachers are given a "Lesson Plan" overview at the beginning of the book and he points them to extra resources that are available for download.

Each chapter describes any additional items you need (straws, pens, etc - all easy to find) and has Teacher Notes that give a brief explanation of what the chapter will teach.

All in all, a very nice workbook - he's got some nice layout and graphic features that I wish I'd thought of... and may "borrow" ;)

Is the book useful outside of the classroom? I think so - especially for youngsters new to NXT. I think the book could just as easily be used by a parent who wants to spend some creative time with their child(ren) and an NXT kit.
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