Educational |
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Preface.
Educational software has improved tremendously since
the early days when computer programs could do little more than generate random
arithmetic problems or pick vocabulary words from a master list to display on
the screen along with 5 multiple-choice responses.
—Dr. Raulston
Led by companies such as Broderbund, Sierra, Knowledge Adventure, Edmark and The Learning Company, educational software today is often both interesting and educational. There is still more good software available for the younger aged children, but interesting and sometimes thought-provoking software is making its way into the early adolescent market as well.
Most software comes with an extended "appropriate age" range. Generally, the programs work best for people in the middle of the range. Youngsters at the low end of the range will tend to find all but the easiest parts of the programs too difficult, and people at the high end of the range may find the concepts too easy. However, particularly for the content-driven software, what the children have studied in school can have a strong effect on how difficult and how interesting they find the software.
All the software makes extensive use of graphics and sound, and unlike earlier software, both visuals and sound tend to be fairly well integrated into the problem-solving experiences that the software provides. Although some software makes its users follow a fairly linear path through its problems, all these packages offer more choices and a richer learning environment than software available just a few years ago.
Technical note: Programs reviewed were run on a 486 with 8MB of RAM running Windows 95, with 256 color video, sound card, and a CD. Most of the software that came on CDs (everything but Reader Rabbit) could run from the CD without installing anything to the hard drive. If space is precious or you have many games, that may be a plus. Many of the programs also run on Macs, which is handy if you have a household with both PCs and Macs.
Thinking Things Collection 3 from Edmark is designed for children from 7-13 years of age. With five different kinds of puzzles to solve or situations to create, this program offers a variety of things to think about, from matching verbal descriptions of cute little creatures to their pictures, to creating bizarre special effects in photos from an image bank. One of the best features of the program is a sliding bar that lets you change the level of difficulty on the fly. Hints and help are usually provided in the scenarios, and that's another plus.
A down side for some children will be the lack of structure in some of the games, especially the half-time show, where you make little marching and noise-making creatures perform a half-time show for you. The activity is extraordinarily open-ended, with very little guidance, so people who like more structured situations or games where the rules are more clearly set forth may find the activity more frustrating than entertaining. For more information go to http://www.edmark.com.
Trudy's Time and Place House, from Edmark, says it's designed for children of 3-6 years of age, and that's a reasonable age range. Six-year-olds who tested the program found it very enjoyable, but not very difficult. In the opening scene, Trudy's eyes follow the mouse wherever it moves on the screenyou can even make her cross-eyed, and the kids loved that! Several activities involve things telling time, setting analog and digital clocks, and playing a kids' version of Sim City in a sandbox. The activities tend to involve single-step reasoning processes, and trial and error solutions work pretty well in most cases. This one was fairly easy, but was rated a hit by the children who played with it. For more information go to http://www.edmark.com.
Dr. Seuss's ABC is just what you'd expect from Dr. Seuss. If you're familiar with the Seuss books and like them, you'll find this program appealing. It's by Living Books (Broderbund), which is just about a guarantee of good software. As in all the Living Books software, you can have the story read to you, with each phrase (letter) being highlighted as it's read, or you can choose to play in the story. In this option, you can still read the text by clicking on it, but you can also click characters and objects in the scenery of each screen, and they will do and say unusual things, often with great sound effects. Kids, especially ones just learning to read, generally love Living Books software, and this one will be no exception. For more information call 1-415-352-2500.
Reader Rabbit # 2 from The Learning Company bills itself as being for 6- to 8-year-olds and says that it builds first- and second-grade phonics skills. How interesting a child finds this program will depend critically on what language and phonics skills she already has, though. For children that are just starting to learn phonics, it's a fun way to practice finding words that rhyme and words that have various long and short vowel sounds, and even in making compound words. The skill level of the child is critical, though: too early, and the child will find the concepts too frustrating. Too late, and they will be uninterestingly easy. But for those just learning to read, the graphics and games are fun. Kids will particularly like the carrot-patch version of Concentration. There are also other levels of the Reader Rabbit series for children with different levels of phonics and reading skills. For more information go to http://www.learningco.com.
The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain Another in the Dr. Brain series from Sierra, the Lost Mind presents an interesting and varied set of puzzles as you work through the chaos of the mad scientist's brain. There are a wide variety of puzzles available from a schematic brain diagram in the opening scene to three levels of difficulty for each set of puzzles. As is usual with Dr. Brain, there is something for everybody. Some of the puzzles on the easy level can be solved pleasantly quickly. Others require different skills or a different slant on puzzle-solving and will be easy for some solvers but very difficult for others. The age range, 12 - adult, seems very reasonable overall. The 12- and 13-year-olds who tested the game found it enjoyable. The challenge-level seemed appropriate for their age and experience. The fact that there are many different kinds of puzzles at each difficult level means that there is a reasonable amount of replaying available, too. And if it starts to get too easy or repetitious at one level, you just try the next harder one! For more information call 1-800-757-7707.
Math Munchers Deluxe is from MECC, the same company that produces such gems as Oregon Trail and Storybook Weaver. Math Munchers is not as appealing as either of those games, however. The detail of the graphics is not as good, for one thing. For another, the game targets math concepts in grades 3-6, and while it covers a number of these concepts, there are two drawbacks to the way it does so. First, the concepts covered in these grades and the order in which they're covered vary among schools, and so it's questionable whether your third-grader is prepared for the third-grade level problems. She may be over-prepared or under-prepared. Second, the graphics presentation that's appealing to a third-grader is not likely to be to a sixth-grader, and that makes it difficult for a single design interface to appeal to such a broad audience. In this case, the designers appeared to target the younger group. Older children may be turned off by the graphics and sounds used in the games. For more information go to http://www.mecc.com.
Interactive Math Journey is from The Learning Company and is advertised for children ages 5-9. The program's format is reminiscent of the Living Books approach to software, though with less richness of feature and less detail. But the music and graphics are much better than those in Math Munchers. The major drawback to the program is that progression along the spiral of math topics is rigid. Unlike most of the software reviewed, you can't hop from one subject area to another. Instead, you must finish one area before moving on to another. Also, the level of difficulty of the material is not adjustable. However, some of the topics are unusual and involve learning faculties not often used in math software. For example, the pattern quilt requires visualization skills that are often not treated in math software. All in all, it's a good package with some interesting and nontraditional elements. For more information go to http://www.learningco.com.
The Juilliard Music Adventure is perhaps the least traditional of the software packages reviewed. Designed for ages 9 and up, it teaches about rhythms and pitches by getting an adventurer to match various pitch and rhythm combinations in a quest to free the queen of a castle. The player has a "helper" elf and various hints and assists along the way. To free the queen, one must gather a certain number of keys, which are acquired by completing the various components of music. The use of the two different palettes for manipulating pitch and rhythm are difficult for some people to get the hang of, but once learned they can be used relatively effectively. The background music is very good (as you might expect), and the musical phrases used to teach pitch and rhythm concepts are short and musically pleasant. An idiosyncratic, but interesting, program. A person's musical training and ability to understand the interface will likely be more important than chronological age for this software. For more information call 1-510-658-2800.
The Magazine appreciates the special efforts by Dr. Raulston for the Preface and coordination of the preceding reviews. NOTE: The reviews are a compendium of comments by the various student reviewers at St. John's School. The Magazine is pleased to acknowledge the public service their reviews have provided.
For toddlers. Computers are neat. Bang on the key board in different places, things go beep, and stuff happens on the screen. But dad never lets me play very long. Then one day we played a new CD called Jump Start for Toddlers by Knowledge Adventure. Dad put the keyboard away and together we use the clicker (mouse). The game starts in a make-believe bedroom with lots of toys, a cat, and a dog. Sometimes we use the clicker, but we don't have to click to make things move. I can also "use" the keyboard to make things talk and move. There are lots of things to see and do. Click on the lazy dog, go to his doghouse and he begs you to bring him treats. It is so easy even my dad can do it! The dog goes "thank you, thank you"! How fun. Then play peek-a-boo with different animals. I can clear make-believe things off the screen just by moving the mouse! An animal appears and sings a song!
You can even click on musical instruments to hear how they sound. Play the snare drum over and over again!
There are some other games that teach me the alphabet, my numbers and different shapes too. The pictures are very nice and do things when I hit the keyboard. And I'm learning how to use a mouse to make things happen. My sister's four and can play them well, but it won't be long before dad and I learn too!
Knowledge Adventure's Jump Start series includes four additional age-groups. For information go to http://www.adventure.com.
Robert Norwood Evans, age 2, of Beaumont.
From Microsoft and developed by Scholastic, the Magic School Bus series is for 6-10 year olds. This series, and the TV program, are based on the books by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen featuring Ms. Frizzle, a wacky science teacher, who takes her class of inquisitive students and playful sidekick Liz the Lizard on educational field trips...in a magic school bus. She has several field trips, but these three: the Solar System, Human Body, and Oceans, are reviewed here. We use the a magic school bus, that can transform itself, for these wondrous journeys of exploration and adventure.
For instance, the Oceans covers seven distinct zones and explores the depths of the floor, currents, and creatures therein. Explore the Human Body when Arnold swallows the whole magic bus and it is up to the students to figure out how to escape! You'll explore lots of Arnold before escaping, from skin and brain to nose and heart. Has "gravity got you down?" Let the magic bus help you explore the Solar System and visit nine planets on this journey. Become an intergalactic pilot with controls to fly to Ms. Frizzle's hiding place...and see NASA's film of the first moon landing.
These are interactive learning programs. There are, naturally, games, various experiments, reports (ugh!), sound, videos, and animations to help one learn during the various journeys and exploration.
For more information go to http://www.scholastic.com and http://www.microsoft.com/athome/kids.
By an anonymous, adult HAL-PC member. (Do you suppose he...or she, also eats Frosted Flakes? Editor)
Dr. Dwight Raulston, a HAL-PC member, is Director of Technology for St. John's School and its former Upper School Head. He may be contacted at dwight@icsi.net.
NOTE: For Internet educational resources, see the special edition of "Al's Picks for December" to your right.
http://www.cs.uh.edu/~clifton/macro.a.html
Here it is kids, get your homework done in no time at all. The Internet encyclopedia from a to z. Point and click your way to an "A". When you get done send e-mail to thank Clif Davis and Margaret Adamson Fincannon for this wonderful site courtesy of the University of Houston.
http://www.education-world.com:-16777216/db/kids.shtml
Education World is the place to go for jumping off spots to a world of exploring. The site even has a built in search engine just for kids. Enter your subject and in an instant you will have links to follow. Something for kids of all ages here.
The premiere site for K-12 students and educators worldwide. Classroom connect hosts lively on-line chat sessions between students and teachers and provides links to hundreds of other sites. Check out classroom web, a link to over a thousand classrooms worldwide.
http://www.cochran.com/tt.html
WELCOME TO OUR ON-LINE ACTIVITY CENTER for Theodore Tugboat, the TV series about a cheerful tugboat who likes to be friends with everyone. Life in his playful Big Harbour community is always changing, and whatever each new day brings, Theodore likes to do the things that friendly tugboats do. A multimedia treat for K-4.
Turner's Electronic Field Trips marry live cablecast and on-line computer technologies in one-of-a-kind, interactive events designed to give your students access to people, places, and experiences to which they might otherwise never be exposed. As participants in electronic field trips, your students "travel" across time and space to places of natural wonder, scientific inquiry, and historical meaning.
http://www.testprep.com/wwlist.html
Looking for some sample tests for practicing the SAT? Look no further than this web site where students can plug in scores and be directed to practice questions on areas in which they need help - for FREE.
The Center For New Discoveries in Learning helps give students the most advanced learning strategies available so they will be totally successful in school. The site also contains lots of things to download for free: articles, School Smart Kids Newsletter, Clyde the Cybertutor learning strategies, successful learning resource guide and more.
O.K. Kids, Uncle Al has given you some great sites to further your education. Now is the time to make sure mom and pop help out. How about a new ink jet printer or maybe a Pentium 166 for the holidays? After all, you N-E-E-D it.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.
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