KUED Programs

Hacker finds the part he needs to fix his Magnetic Magnotube - a machine that would disable Motherboard forever - in a most unlikely place. All he has to do to get it is win a cooking contest on the hit cyberspace TV show, THE FEARLESS CHEF. Hacker's plan? To kidnap his competition. But the Cybersquad is on to him. The girls go on a rescue mission to save the Fearless Chef, while Matt and Digit take on Hacker. Digit is already a celebrity chef, so this should be a piece of cake. They must race the clock and Hacker to cook three delicious dishes in three outrageous locations. Will Digit beat Hacker? Only time will tell. Math Topic: Elapsed Time; NCTM Links: Measurement.

Hacker pollutes cyberspace with dangerous cyberstatic by tampering with four satellites designed to keep everything free from cyber- static cling. But is his plan only to trash cyberspace - or does he have something even more devious up his cloak? The kids learn the answer as they use balance scales and equations to restore the satellites and save Motherboard. The Big Idea: You can use an equation - a statement that two different expressions are equal to each other - to find unknown values that make the equation true. Math Topic: Balancing Equations NCTM Links: Algebra, Representation, Connections.

Hacker's nemesis Ledge is back to settle the score with Hacker by finding the Bluebird of Zappiness - the key to fixing Motherboard's virus - before Hacker can. To stop him, Hacker makes an unlikely alliance - with the CyberSquad! Together they must figure out how clues from Motherboard - plus shadow math - can help them find it first. Can this unlikely team possibly succeed?

(topic: Symmetry) - In his passion for symmetry, Dr. Marbles has created Symmetria, a harmonious cyberplace where everything is made symmetrical by a symmetrizer. Hacker steals the machine and reprograms it so that he can undo symmetry. The kids must master the properties of symmetry before Hacker destroys beauty, balance and harmony throughout all of cyberspace! The Big Idea: Symmetries are patterns you can find hidden within many objects that create balance, order, and a pleasing regularity in the world around us.

(topic: Number Sense) - Hacker kidnaps the King of this fractured fairytale world, and demands a ransom of golden eggs. The Wicked Witch then casts a spell, taking away everyone's ability to count and making it impossible for the fairy tale folk to gather the required large number of eggs. With the safety of the King at stake, the kids must help the fairy tale folk understand the role of place value in our number system before time runs out! The Big Idea: With numbers and a system, you have the power to keep track of anything and everything on earth.

Hacker decides that he can force cybersites to surrender by annoying them big time. He broadcasts his loud and obnoxious voice across the vastness of cyberspace from a massive statue shaped like the arrogant Hacker himself. The kids and Digit are sent by Motherboard to the Northern Frontier, where they carry out a Mission Impossible style scheme to silence the statue and disable Hacker's intimidation. Using their skills at measuring length, the kids make their way up through the inside of the booby-trapped statue to Hacker's pointy chin and big mouth. But can they shut him up before Hacker shuts them down? The Big Idea: To measure length and communicate your results easily and precisely, identify a system of units based on a single standard length that everyone using it agrees on. Math Topic: Linear Measurement NCTM Links: Measurement.

Hacker plans to launch a new virus at Motherboard - one that will crash her hard drive once and for all so he can take over cyberspace. To stop the kids and Digit from getting in his way, he tricks them into a cybersite from which escape seems impossible. In a confounding juxtaposition of scale and size, the kids first find themselves in a land of giants - then become giants themselves in a land of little people. The kids must cope with these disparities in scale and size, and use their brainpower to escape and warn Motherboard before Hacker can launch his virus. The Big Idea: You can create an exact likeness of something--though one that is a different size--by multiplying the size of every part of your original by the same number. Math Topic: Scale and Size; NCTM Links: Geometry, Algebra.

(topic: Multiplication) - Hacker's plan to clone himself so he can wreak havoc throughout cyberspace in many places at once, goes haywire when his newly invented Clonitron clones Delete instead of himself. But Hacker takes advantage of the mishap by sending the Delete clones to takeover the R-Fair City cybersite. To complicate matters, every time Delete sneezes - his clones multiply even more. As the problem escalates, the kids do the math to keep track of the number of clones as they increase. Meanwhile, Cy Clone, a famous clone catcher sent to the site by Motherboard, vacuums up the clones - while Digit tries to get the Clonitron away from Hacker. The Big Idea: Multiplication is just repeated addition. If you're having trouble multiplying, you can always add to find your answer.

The CyberSquad is in Gollywood making a movie when Glittertown's top designer, hairdresser and make-up artist go missing in a dense and unexpected fog. Turns out Hacker is responsible and has spirited the stylists away to his home base. Cyberspace's favorite weathercaster Stormy Gale (Janice Huff) helps the kids discover how to make fog, but to pull off a daring rescue, the kids have to find the elusive dew point at the Northern Frontier on their own. Can they figure it out and make their own fog to get the glam-makers back home safely?

Hacker returns to Poddleville with a peace offering: a magnificent statue of the Mayor of Poddleville. But at the unveiling party, Hacker accuses someone of stealing the key to his recharger chair. The accused claims he's innocent. Like Sherlock Holmes and Watson, the kids and Digit investigate the crime by interviewing eyewitnesses and recreating the crime scene. But the more they investigate - the more the accused is placed at the scene of the crime. Everyone saw him. It appears that Hacker has found the culprit. But has he? And what's that strange noise coming from inside the statue? Math Topic: Point of View; NCTM Links: Geometry.

While enjoying a little R & R in Solaria, Hacker is delighted to see Wicked, who is also on vacation-but she's not alone! She's partnered with Nug Grommet, the handsome cyber-surfing champion in a dance contest. Turning even greener with jealousy, Hacker enters the contest to prove his superiority. Only there's one small problem-who can he coerce into being his partner? Enter the CyberSquad. Observing Jackie's prowess on the dance floor, Hacker has Buzz and Delete detain Inez, then forces Jackie to teach him the moves and dance with him in exchange for Inez's safe return. As the contest unfolds, it becomes apparent that the judges lack a workable scoring system to decide the winner. Determined to help Inez, Matt joins the judges to find a way to score the contest. And, as Wicked points out, it had better be fair or she will wreak her revenge! Should Matt give Hacker and Jackie a higher score than Wicked and Nug so Inez can go free? Or judge the contest fairly and hope Digit rescues Nezzie in time?

(topic: Finding Meaning from Data) - Dr. Marbles is captured by Hacker and taken to Castleblanca, a cyberspace version of Transylvania. Hacker's goal: transfer Marbles' brainpower into his newly-built robot named Megabyte! Summoned by Motherboard, the kids and Digit arrive with the knowledge that Hacker has taken Marbles to a castle - but which one? There are hundreds and hundreds of castles. To find Marbles, the kids must master the art of properly collecting data, organizing it and graphing the results - which are sometimes surprising! The Big Idea: Data is a lot more than a collection of numbers. When you gather it, organize and analyze it, you can discover useful information hidden in the numbers.

Special Holiday Episode!" It's Mother's Day in cyberspace - and Hacker is determined to ruin it for everyone, especially Motherboard, by derailing the train that picks up the rare and colorful Madre Bonitas. This beautiful flower symbolizes Mother's Day, and it must be harvested on this one day only. It's a race against time, as the kids and Digit try to repair the breaks in the line and save Mother's Day. The Big Idea: Use a decimal point to join tenths with whole numbers and you have a decimal system you can use to easily record, compare and combine whole numbers with fractions. Math Topic: Decimals; NCTM Links: Number and Operations.

Digit is pet-sitting in Golftopia, taking care of Dewey, a lovable Deedle Beast. But suddenly Dewey starts going berserk on his daily walks. What's going on?! The kids arrive to help, but how do you figure out what's wrong with an animal that can't talk? The kids begin to see a pattern in the critter's odd behavior - and the plot thickens when they realize that Hacker has moved in right next door. What is the King of Chaos up to this time?

Hacker steals the legendary Egg of Benedicta - and the lush landscape of Tikiville wilts and turns brown. The spirit of the Tikians is crushed and Creech is in big trouble unless the CyberSquad can help! When their attempt recover the Egg from Hacker fails, they hatch a new plan to replace the Egg. By studying patterns in nature, can they recreate the nest and restore peace and harmony to Tikiville? EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVE: Find the rule for a pattern you observe in the natural world and you can use what you have learned to make similar patterns of your own.

Sensible Flats has been "Hackerized" - all the town folk look and act like the dastardly villain. But get this: Hacker didn't do it! While he sets out to find out who could have pulled off this fantastic feat, the CyberSquad rushes in to save the town. To do so, these novice climbers must scale a rocky cliff in less than 3 minutes. Can they improve their rock-climbing skills in time or will they be Hackerized themselves?

(topic: Codes) - In the watery depths of cybersite Aquari-yum, the kids and Hacker go in search of a giant cyber-slug, who feeds on pure energy. The kids and Digit travel underwater in two separate vessels, but Hacker has a listening device that taps into their communications system, allowing him to overhear their plans - and track every move they make. The kids outsmart Hacker by devising a series of codes so they can send messages back and forth in secret - even though Hacker can hear what they're saying. But unless the kids can reach the slug first, Hacker will use the slug to attack Motherboard's circuitry and disable her once and for all! The Big Idea: You can use a code (a communication system that substitutes one thing for another) to send top-secret messages as long as your code has an adjustable rule that can be reversed to read the message.

(topic: Liquid Volume) - Determined to destroy Motherboard in any way possible, Hacker cleverly clogs up her cooling system. Digit brings the kids into cyberspace to help fix her, but the special coolant Motherboard needs, cryoxide, is found only in Castleblanca - and the supply is closely monitored! To bring back exactly enough cryoxide for Motherboard, the kids have to figure out the exact volume of Motherboard's tank. In the process, they discover the importance of a standard unit of measure - and fill a most unusual container with the precious cryoxide. The Big Idea: Just because one container appears bigger to the eye doesn't mean it holds more liquid than another. A container's volume depends on all its dimensions.

The CyberSquad is summoned to Tikiville to stop Hacker from winning a race that would allow him to take over the cybersite. Upon arrival, Matt and Jackie tease Inez about her big vocabulary, so she decides to say just one small word -- "Bye!" She splits from the group and teams up with a Tikiville girl named Creech. Creech considers it her destiny to rule the land her family once ruled for so many years. Hacker, of course, is out to win any way he can. The kids have to overcome their differences as well as use their knowledge of direction and distance to help Creech take a shortcut to the finish line...but will they cross it before Hacker?

With special guest star Geoffrey Holder. Out for revenge, Hacker invades Shangri-La and imprisons Master Pi. The kids and Digit arrive as Hacker searches for the Good Vibration - the source of peace and happiness on the cybersite. Trouble doubles with unexpected results for the kids as well as Hacker, Buzz and Delete. Will the good vibrations continue, or will Hacker turn Shangri La into Shangri Blah? The Big Idea: When something grows by doubling, it gets large surprisingly fast, growing ever faster the longer the doubling continues. Math Topic: Growth by Doubling; NCTM Links: Algebra *Science Connection: Comparing growth and patterns of change.

The balance and harmony of the Mount Olympus cybersite is controlled and protected by the Music of the Spheres. When Hacker disrupts this balance and throws the site into utter chaos, the kids and Digit have until sunset to make the sound of the music right! For the beat to go on, the kids must recreate the music and find the missing element in the musical pattern. The Big Idea: You can use mathematical patterns to create and understand memorable musical rhythms. Math Topic: Patterns in Music NCTM Links: Algebra, Connections.

Hacker shows up at Motherboard Control Central. He pleads guilty to being the King of Chaos, but says he's sorry. He doesn't want to be a bad guy anymore. But when nobody's looking, he slips a strange frog into the air duct. What happens when this frog grows into a grotesque, alien creature that threatens to destroy Motherboard? And what will happen to the kids when they go inside Motherboard to track it down?

(Topic: Problem Solving) - Hacker is holding the kids captive aboard the Grim Wreaker, when a storm forces the Wreaker to land on a snowy mountaintop. They are taken prisoner by a peaceful but mysterious Zen Master, who devises a game of strategy to test their problem solving skills. The winner of the game will be set free - the loser will remain a prisoner. In the battle of brainpower, the kids discover that each of them has a different way of solving problems - and that despite anger and frustration, they need to be tolerant of these differences. Hacker, of course, has his own way of solving problems. Working together, the kids find a way to defeat Hacker and gain their freedom. The Big Idea: Treat tough math problems like a challenging game. Set a game plan, and as you play, see how it goes. Take time to review and revise before playing again. Work on your problem as long as you can, but stop before anger and frustration overtake your desire to play.

Hacker has discovered an army of awesome creatures he can use to rule cyberspace, but they are carved in stone on the walls of the Pyramid of Jimaya. To bring the animals to life, he must steal the Sphere of Being, a magical orb closely guarded by three ghosts (Hacker's worst nightmare). How can he distract them so he can steal the Sphere? Opportunity knocks when he tricks Jules, recently hired as tour guide, into pushing the wrong button and falling, along with the kids and Creech, into an underground arena from which there is no escape! Confronted by the Jam Master, the guardian of the pyramid, and the Pyramid's three ghosts, the kids are told they can go free if they can overcome the ghosts in a game of Jimaya Jam. The game is like basketball except for a few small quirks: When Matt tries to dribble and move the ball across the court, it breaks! And he can't move from where he stands on the court once he receives it. Coach Jackie struggles with a game plan until the kids realize that diagramming her plays makes it a whole lot easier to follow them. Down to their last ball, stopping Hacker rests on their ability to diagram and execute the right play.

It's the CyberSquad's most ingenious plan ever - and most dangerous! If they can insert a new memory chip into Hacker's H-Drive, they can turn him from evil to good. Once he's been shrunk and is inside Hacker, Matt's mission goes like clockwork until a force field is activated and envelops the H-Drive. All seems lost until Digit remembers a robot that Dr Marbles made that can break through any force field. They can shrink it down and send it in to help Matt... but must first figure out how to make it follow their commands. Can Inez, Jackie and Digit program the robot in time?