Skip to lesson
Cogito
GuideContactMembership

Part 2 of 33

The menu on the left

Every screen in Cogito has the same menu. On a computer it runs down the left-hand edge. On a phone it is behind the button with three lines, at the top left.

It is the one thing worth learning first, because everything else in Cogito can be reached from it.

The menu on a computer, in its groups. This picture was taken before the newest places were added.
The menu on a computer, in its groups. This picture was taken before the newest places were added.

At the top sit search and the places most people want first. Under them come groups, and the headings say what each one holds: Chess & Cube, Labs and Learn are what your child opens. Family is where you go. Help is everything else.

Each item has its icon in a small colored square: teal for what your child opens, purple for Family, grey for the rest. The page you are on has a solid blue square, so you can always see where you are.

At the top

  1. Search — type what you are looking for and jump straight to a lesson.
  2. Home — the first screen, and your child’s next step once you are signed in.
  3. All courses — every course on one page, by subject and grade.
  4. Competition Prep — the problem types on state tests, the SAT, MATHCOUNTS, AMC and Math Kangaroo, each worked on a chalkboard. The Competition Prep chapter explains it.
  5. Tech explained — how rockets, phones, chatbots and the power grid work, each with a film. Tech explained.
  6. Brain Gym — puzzles for every kind of thinking. Brain Gym.
  7. Watch & Wonder — cartoon films for the youngest. Watch & Wonder.

Chess and Cube

  1. Chess Academy — learn chess, a lesson at a time.
  2. Play Chess — a whole game against the computer. Chess Academy and Play Chess.
  3. Cube Academy — learn to solve a Rubik’s Cube. Cube Academy.

Labs

  1. Math Lab — pick a math problem, set your own numbers and work it out a step at a time. Math Lab.
  2. Science Lab — 3D labs: make a guess, explore, then say what you found. Science Lab.
  3. Science Fair Lab — real experiments at home, turned into a science fair project. Science Fair Lab.

Learn — what your child opens

  1. Life Skills — money, safety, feelings and the rest. Chapter 1 of each band is free for everybody.
  2. Practice worksheets — every printable sheet and answer key, ready for paper.
  3. Fun & Think — short games and riddles, most needing no reading at all.

Family — where you go

  1. Family progress — where each child is, the week, and this week’s letter.
  2. Learners — the children you have added, if you have added any.

Help

  1. Guide — this guide.
  2. Membership — what it costs and what it opens.
  3. Contact — tell us how Cogito is working out, report something wrong, or just get in touch. A sentence is worth more to us than a score, and corrections to a lesson are the most useful thing you can send.

Making it narrower

The menu shows the words. If you would rather have the room back for the lesson, tap Narrow the menu at the very top of it. The menu shrinks to its icons, which take about a quarter of the width. The arrow in the same place widens it again.

The same menu narrowed to icons.
The same menu narrowed to icons.

When a lesson is shown one part at a time, the menu steps aside completely and leaves a small Menu tab at the left edge. Tap the tab to bring the menu back for that lesson.

On a phone

There is no room for a strip beside the page on a phone, so the menu hides behind the button with three lines at the top left. Tap it and the menu slides in over the page. Tap anything in it, tap Close, or tap the page behind it, and it slides away again.

The menu on a phone, opened from the button at the top left.
The menu on a phone, opened from the button at the top left.

What next

The next chapter walks through the home page from the top down.