Examples of Cognitive Tools

Moodle - a Learning management system

Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, open source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities. You can download and use it on any computer you have handy (including webhosts), yet it can scale from a single-teacher site to a 50,000-student University. This site itself is created using Moodle, so check out the Moodle Demonstration course or read the latest Moodle Buzz.
http://moodle.org/

Inspiration - mind mapping

Inspiration® is the essential tool students rely on to plan, research and complete projects successfully. With the integrated Diagram and Outline Views, they create graphic organizers and expand topics into writing. This powerful combination encourages learning in multiple modes. As a result, students gain and retain a better understanding of concepts and demonstrate knowledge, improving their performance across the curriculum.
Improve 6th to 12th grade skills:
- Plan and organize
- Research and evaluate
- Comprehend and communicate
Educators use Inspiration to customize instruction, achieve standards, assess student projects and energize learning. An expanded selection of 120+ cross-curricular templates in language arts, social studies, science, planning and thinking makes starting assignments quick and easy. Visualize ideas, concepts and relationships In Diagram View, students create graphic organizers — a core element of visual learning

— to analyze, compare and evaluate information.

They quickly brainstorm new ideas with the RapidFire tool, search the symbol collection to find images to represent any concept, and insert and play multimedia files. To show relationships between ideas, students link symbols and add words to further clarify meaning. Improve writing proficiency As they start the writing process, students use visually integrated notes to expand topics and switch to Outline View to further develop their ideas. The integrated Word Guide helps students choose words with more precision, and a contextual spell checker automatically identifies misspelled words. To finalize projects, students can transfer to their favorite word processor or transform their work into a web site with the Site Skeleton export tool. Plan and organize projects Inspiration helps students organize information, develop thinking skills and demonstrate knowledge. Drag-and-drop actions and hyperlinks make it easy to gather research and connect to files and web resources. As students develop their projects, they use AutoArrange to automatically format their diagrams. Inspiration Web
http://www.inspiration.com/productinfo/Inspiration/

Sony Acid Pro - digitally constructing music

Sony ACID Pro is the name of the loop-based music production software originally published by sonic foundry that is now owned and run by Sony. This software runs on PCs with all versions of Microsoft Windows since Windows 2000. It is a powerful audio editing tool that can stretch or shrink sound without altering its pitch (see sound effect techniques for more information on typical audio editing techniques). ACID Pro currently includes over 20 DirectX audio effects, employs the new Media Manager technology, the Beatmapper tool, and the Chopper tool, as well the ability to mix in 5.1 channel surround.
With tools such as the Chopper, digital mixers can slice bits of a sample apart and then rework each one with individual pitch and effects, but with simple copy and paste functions, it's almost like working on an MPC.
ACID Pro uses 'Acidized' loops (Acidized meaning they contain tempo and key information for proper pitch transposition) painted out across the screen to create music tracks. Many Acidized loop sample CDs are available from Sony, as well as a number of other companies including : Playin' Music, Peace Love Productions, Big Fish, Perimeter Sound Arts, and Power FX to name a few of the top loop sample content providers.
As with most sophisticated software packages, ACID is not a single software product but defines a family of products spanning a significant range of features. In a related-marketing effort, Sony has continued to support ACIDplanet.com, a content web site originally launched by Sonic Foundry which is aimed at current ACID users, prospective ACID users and the general public. It describes itself as "the Internet's premier site for music, video and unique artists".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_ACID_Pro

Web Quests - student centred and inquriy based learning

WebQuests are among the most fascinating applications on the Internet for K-12 educators. Student centered and inquiry based, a WebQuest challenges students to explore the web for information and it is an excellent way to integrate the Internet into the classroom. Traditionally WebQuests have an introduction, a process, a task, a list of resources, a conclusion, and an evaluation. Bernie Dodge and Tom developed the WebQuest model in early 1995 at San Diego State University March.
http://www.techtrekers.com/webquests/