Normal Form or Not?
Is a database in third normal form? Find what stops it and fix it, step by step.
Trace Tables
Trace real 9618 pseudocode and flowcharts, one variable at a time.
Schema Architect
Design linked tables with keys, then write the DDL yourself.
File Sizes
Work out how big text, images and sound files are, bit by bit.
SQL Challenges
Query a real database in SQL to answer questions about it, with every query checked and explained.
How a Web Page Loads
Follow one web page from the address bar to the screen: DNS lookup through the root, TLD and authoritative servers, the TCP handshake, TLS, HTTP and every file the HTML asks for, with a waterfall of the timings.
Packet Routing
Watch numbered packets cross a mesh of routers, each following its own routing table; break a link, congest one or fail a router and see the tables update, packets re-route and arrive out of order, and the message reassembled.
Device Dash
Devices fall towards three bins: sort each into input, output or storage before it lands, then pick the best device for a real job, from MICR for cheques to RFID for cattle ear tags.
Phish or Legit?
Emails, texts, calls and web pages fill your inbox: trust or report each before it overflows, then name the threat and the right defence.
Validation Station
Records stream towards the database: pick the validation check that catches each bad value, tell validation from verification, and sort test data into normal, abnormal and extreme.
Chart Chooser
Pick the right chart for the data against the clock (line, bar, pie or scatter), then spot what's wrong with a chart: no title, no axis titles, no legend, or the wrong type.
eSafety Scenarios
Short cases on personal data, social media, gaming, cyberbullying, location sharing and health and safety: choose the best action, and see why every other choice falls short.
Spec It Out
Choose the processor, memory, storage, screen and input devices for nine users, from a travelling video editor to a smart-home hub, and see how well each build suits them, what it costs and how portable it is.
Network Builder
Place routers, switches, wireless access points and modems, connect a LAN, a WLAN and a WAN, then send a message and watch each device forward it by MAC or IP address.
Who Gets In?
Layer passwords, biometrics, 2FA, a firewall, encryption, anti-malware and access rights, then send in nine attacks and see which defence stops each one, and what it costs.
Systems Life Cycle Planner
Take a new system from analysis to evaluation: pick research methods, design validation, run a test plan that finds the bug, simulate changeover methods failing, sort the documentation and judge the result.
Packet Journey
Follow a web request from DNS lookup to packets routed on their own and reassembled in order, then see how bandwidth, latency and packet loss change load time.
Formula Gym
Type real formulae into a live spreadsheet, from SUM to nested IF and VLOOKUP, and have them checked: any correct formula passes, and common mistakes are named.
Fill-Down Lab
Drag a formula down or across and see every copy: which references moved, and which the $ signs kept fixed.
What-If Models
Move the sliders on a school ball and a café model, goal-seek a target profit step by step, and compare saved scenarios side by side.
Query Grid
Build queries in an Access-style grid (criteria, wildcards, sorting, calculated fields) and watch the SQL and the results update live.
Mail Merge Maker
Merge a club's member list into a letter with merge fields and an IF…THEN…ELSE field, choose who gets one, and preview every letter.
Web Authoring Studio
Write HTML and CSS side by side with a live preview, and complete 19 tasks checked automatically: house styles, merged cells, relative paths, bookmarks and the cascade.
Web Scripting Sandbox
Write JavaScript for real web pages (events, form validation, loops and functions) and check it against tests in a safe sandbox.
Vector or Bitmap?
Zoom in until the bitmap pixelates while the vector stays sharp, compare file sizes, edit layers and pixels, then choose the right format for 14 real jobs.
Tween Studio
Set keyframes and let motion and shape tweens fill the frames between, add easing and onion skin, and make a ball bounce in 24 frames.
Edit Suite
Trim, split, fade and mix clips on a timeline without clipping, then see how sample rate, resolution, frame rate and lossy or lossless compression change the file size.
Control Loop
Run a greenhouse or central heating: sensors, ADC, microprocessor and actuators in a feedback loop, with its graph and flowchart.
Encryption Lab
Encrypt with Caesar or XOR, meet the key-sharing problem, then watch public keys, digital signatures and an HTTPS handshake step by step.
Flowchart Runner
Choose or build a flowchart and run it box by box with a live trace table, then predict outputs and fix faulty flowcharts.
Expert System Builder
Consult a plant doctor or car-fault expert system, watch backward and forward chaining fire its rules, then edit the rules yourself.
File Access Visualiser
Serial, sequential, indexed sequential and hashed files side by side: search, add and delete, count the accesses, then batch-update a master file.
Critical Path
Build a project from tasks and dependencies, see its Gantt chart and network, find the critical path and float, and test what a delay does.
GPS Triangulator
Move satellites over New Zealand: signal times become circles that fix your position, and a wrong clock shows why GPS needs four satellites.
Tamper-Proof Chain
Edit a block in a real SHA-256 blockchain and watch every later link break, then mine to fix it; weigh up the uses and limits of digital currencies.
Emerging Tech Debates
Ten emerging technologies from AI to quantum computing, and an evaluation builder that turns weighted points into an exam-style conclusion.
Digital Divide Explorer
World Bank and ITU data on who is online, by income, country, town and country, age and gender, with causes, effects and NZ solutions.
IT Pseudocode
Write algorithms in 9626 pseudocode, from inputs and totals to loops, procedures and control systems, then run them, trace them and have them marked on tests.