A teaching apparatus for students, having a lab unit with a top face, a plurality of manipulable indicator tiles, each tile having a character printing area containing an indication mark and having an identifier chip; tile-reader pockets on the top face; a touch screen and stylus; and a liquid crystal display screen, so that the lab unit can scan and recognize an identifier chip in an indicator tile placed in a tile-reader pocket and the lab unit can teach and assess through means of the speakers and graphic panel/touch screen.