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Software
Releases
By Judi Mathis Johnson
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 Download
the full article (PDF, 311 KB, PDF
Instructions)
Programs mentioned in this column have not been
reviewed by the International Society for Technology in
Education;
their appearance here does not constitute an endorsement
by Learning
& Leading with Technology or ISTE.
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= Product for learners with
special needs.
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A Glimpse
of Life on the Colonial Plantation
A Glimpse of Life on the Colonial
Plantation
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Sometimes
I have to go exploring to find overlooked gems. A Glimpse of
Life
on the Colonial Plantation, produced by Widener University
and the
Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation, is one of those gems.
Today, the
lives of the Pratt family from the early 1700s is re-created
on a
daily basis at the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation in
Ridley Creek
State Park in Media, Pennsylvania. If your class is unable
to go on
this field trip, then the hybrid Mac/PC CD-ROM can bring
colonial
life into your room in these four sections: Family Portrait,
Homestead,
Plantation Life, and Colonial Sidebar.
Here
are just a few questions to pique your curiosity. Would a
man or
woman wear a fichu? What was the largest tool in the
surgeon’s
amputation kit? How did Mr. Erwin become an indentured
servant?
The
CD brings the simplicity and difficulty of colonial living
to life
with detailed information about dress, medicine, and much
more.
To purchase this CD-ROM for $20.00, contact Betty Bisaccia
at Widener
University, 1 University Place, Chester, PA 19013;
610.495.4243.
Millennium
2000 World Book
Millenium 2000 World
Book |
The
first of the new multimedia encyclopedias to cross my desk
is the
Millennium 2000 World Book. One feature likely to be used
again and
again is Just Looking, as shown in the screen below. If
students are
just browsing, this feature randomly gathers a number of
topics, pictures,
and time lines and places these tempting morsels on a circle
of platters
for students to sample and explore. Surf the Millennium
invites students
to visit each century of the past millennium, beginning with
the year
1000, on simulated Web sites. The text is written from each
century’s
perspective. Three different CD-ROM editions range in price:
Standard,
$39.95; Deluxe, $59.95; and Premier Reference Library,
$89.95. The
Deluxe and Library editions contain the homework and
productivity
tools for research and writing. In an animated simulation,
students
can change variables and observe changes in the outcome. The
Premier
Reference Library also contains the Rand McNally New
Millennium World
Atlas Deluxe, Merriam-Webster’s Reference Library,
three Information
Please Almanacs, and Via Voice for the encyclopedia.
Produced by IBM,
these electronic World Book versions are available
commercially. IBM
Multimedia; 888.411.1WEB or 914.499.1900; www.ibm.com
Grammar
of Ornament
Grammar of Ornament (Persian No. 2,
plate
45 from CD-ROM) |
Another
gem I must share is actually a company, Direct Imagination,
because
each of its products is a gem. Whether you teach art or work
with
journalism students, the CD-ROMs from Direct Imagination
should be
part of your resources. I’ll attempt to describe just
one. Grammar
of Ornament provides an extensive collection of beautiful
art in digital
form. The plates and text from Owen Jones’s original
work are
now presented side by side. Hyperlinks connect the art and
text. Many
of its designs were taken from ancient monuments and
buildings that
no longer exist. You can see the influence of these archives
in the
designs of William Morris, Christopher Dresser, Louis
Sullivan, and
Frank Lloyd Wright. The materials can be used as part of an
art history
course or as a source of royalty-free art for publications.
Grammar
of Ornament is a Mac/PC hybrid that costs $149.00. Father of
Industrial
Design: Works of Christopher Dresser and Racinet Le Costume
Historique:
China & Japan are two other titles in their collection,
and each
costs $79.00. To purchase or to learn about more titles,
contact Direct
Imagination, PO Box 93018, Pasadena, CA 91109; 626.793.8387;
www.dimagin.com
A Field
Trip to the Sea Deluxe
A Field Trip to the Sea
Deluxe
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Students
in Grades 4–8 can meet Barry Cuda, the captain of a
submarine
that takes students on an underwater exploration in A Field
Trip to
the Sea Deluxe. Students can explore different regions from
Shore
Things to The Deep. As students explore the Discovery
screens, the
creatures and plants are identified in an unobtrusive
manner. The
Field Guide contains information, such as how coral reefs
form in
tropical and subtropical waters, how sea creatures use
camouflage,
and which explorers and scientists have made significant
discoveries
about ocean life. The Terms Book contains a glossary of
words that
appear in the program and a Search tool to locate a
particular creature,
plant, or other information. This Mac/PC hybrid CD-ROM
package from
Sunburst costs $89.95 for either the single version or the
lab pack
of 10. Sunburst Communications, 101 Castleton Street,
Pleasantville,
NY 10570; 800.321.7511 or 914.747.3310; www.sunburst.com
Site
Central
Site Central (Roger Wagner Publishing), a Web page creation software
tool from Knowledge Adventure, is designed for students in Grades 3 and up.
Site Central is the only Web-authoring program that supports HyperStudio®
stacks. The program’s output is consistent on all browsers and no additional
software is needed for graphic effects. Features include tools for creating
artist effects, decorative fonts, and ready-made templates. Building pages can
consist of selecting objects from menus, dragging and dropping, and editing—thus
making the whole process more visually oriented. Specify Macintosh or Windows
when ordering this $59.00 package. Be prepared, the Windows version required
60Mb on the hard drive for the minimal installation, and the CD-ROM must stay
in the drive. For more information, visit www.sitecentral.com or call
Knowledge Adventure at 800.545.7677.
Type
to Learn Jr.
Keyboarding
is a skill that younger and younger students need. Type to
Learn
Jr. is designed for students in Grades PK–2 to fill
the request
for a keyboarding readiness program. The animated
activities take
students from keyboard awareness to typing selected words
and on
to typing short sentences. Three games provide practice
after students
learn skills in The Learning Center. In Cassie’s
Empty Nest
students identify which letters are typed with the left or
right
hand. In Hopkin’s Treasure Trove students practice
typing letters
and learn their keyboard location. Tiny’s Flying Feat
provides
additional keyboarding practice as students identify and
type rhyming
words to complete the game. Certificates can be printed to
reward
students for completed lessons. Spend $99.95 for one
Macintosh/PC
hybrid CD-ROM and the teacher’s guide or $99.95 for
10 CD-ROMs
and the teacher’s guide. Sunburst Communications, 101
Castleton
Street, Pleasantville, NY 10570; 800.321.7511; www.SUNBURST.com
Microsoft
Office 2000
One of the additions to the new Microsoft Office 2000 (Windows only)
is the inclusion of online communication tools. Using the software, individuals
can coordinate face-to-face meetings, videoconferencing, and application-sharing
on the Internet. A couple of new or improved features caught my eye: a Web-page
preview to preview pages in their default browsers without saving them first;
an improved hyperlink interface to make it easier to create, edit, follow, and
remove hyperlinks in documents; Microsoft NetMeeting conferencing software;
and the ability to completely turn off the Assistant. Be aware that the Presentation
Broadcast displays presentation slides in HTML along with the narration as streaming
audio and video, but requires a Microsoft NetShow server. PowerPoint 2000 combines
the slide, outline, and notes views into a single, framed screen—no more
switching between screens. Special for educators is the two-CD set called Teaching
and Learning with Microsoft (www.microsoft.com/education/k12/cdoffer.htm).
In & Out of the Classroom has been updated for Microsoft Office 2000 (www.microsoft.com/education/curric/office2k).
Microsoft; 800.426.9400 or 425.882.8080; www.microsoft.com
An Odyssey
of Discovery: Continent Explorer II
Now available in a Mac/PC hybrid is An Odyssey of Discovery: Continent
Explorer II from Pierian Spring Software. The focus is on geography as students
navigate the world and explore or choose from the three games. The program records
student scores as they practice locating, identifying, and spelling place names
and features. Students can make and print their own maps complete with color-coded
legends. Teacher-controlled settings can narrow the focus to specific geographical
regions for in-depth study for students in Grades 3 and up, adjust difficulty
levels, and record student responses. Although it does not come in a binder
with teacher materials, various lessons and other files on the CD-ROM can be
printed and adapted. The single version costs $39.00 from Pierian Spring Software,
5200 SW Macadam Ave., Suite 570, Portland, OR 97201; 800.472.8567 or 503.222.2044.
Adobe®
PageMaker® 6.5 Plus
Adobe
PageMaker 6.5 Plus is the newest version of the program
that often
sets standards for desktop publishing. Hundreds of
predesigned templates
are divided into novice, intermediate, and advanced
categories.
Whether you are teaching a journalism class or producing
district
materials, PageMaker contains features that can make the
process
simpler and more professional looking. The number of clip
art selections
is not in the hundreds of thousands, nor are they in
low-resolution
file formats (such as Web images, which often do not
reproduce well
in a publication). More than 5,000 stock art and
high-resolution
photographs can be color separated or customized. The new
version
includes Acrobat Distiller 4.0, software for converting
PageMaker
documents into Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
Specify
Power Macintosh or Windows version when ordering from an
educational
reseller, where you will pay educator-only prices.
Photoelectric
Tutor
Photoelectric Tutor is the newest title from Physics Academic Software.
The interactive tutor addresses the photoelectric effect and its circuitry in
a computer-oriented arena to promote student investigation. The goal is that
students will go through the reasoning processes involved in the analysis of
the circuit, examine the relationships that exist among the experimental parameters,
and draw inferences about the nature of light. The tutorial typically takes
30 to 45 minutes to complete. Students are asked to draw current-voltage graphs
for various situations. The computer then interprets the graphs, asks appropriate
questions, and helps the students work toward the correct solution. In free
exploration, students can continue their investigations using supplemental exercises
in the appendix. Photoelectric Tutor is available for Windows, DOS and Macintosh.
A single copy costs $100.00, and a high school site license costs $250.00. Physics
Academic Software, PO Box 8202, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
27695-8202; 800.955.8275 or 919.515.7447.
Travel
the World with Timmy! Deluxe
This
revision of the popular program, Travel the World with
Timmy! Deluxe,
adds new languages and adventures for young PK–2
students.
They can visit Russia, France, Argentina, Japan, and Kenya
where
they can listen and sing along with native songs, play
problem-solving
games, compose stories, and practice creativity skills
with arts
and crafts. Students can choose to sing a Spanish elephant
song,
a Japanese song about flying fish, a French song about a
sleeping
miller, a Russian dance song, or a Swahili folk tune.
In
the Explore Mode students experiment freely and learn
through discovery.
In Question and Answer Mode students experience guided
learning
experiences where they are prompted to answer questions.
The Mac/PC
hybrid CD-ROM package costs $59.95 and is available
directly from
Edmark, an IBM company, at 800.691.2985.
Art
Full Text and Library Literature & Information
Science Full Text
H.W.
Wilson has two new products for libraries. The first is
called Art
Full Text. This database builds on Wilson’s Art
Abstracts and
contains abstracting and indexing of 378 periodicals, in
addition
to the full text. Indexing goes as far back as September
1984. Sources
published in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish,
and Dutch
are covered by the database.
Library
Literature & Information Science Full Text contains
the complete
text of articles from 70 leading publications in library
and information
science, plus indexing of more than 290 periodicals and
600 monographs
per year. Updates are posted weekly on WilsonWeb and
monthly on
WilsonTape. The WilsonDisc CD-ROM subscriptions are
updated monthly
and are now also available for Windows. H.W. Wilson, 950
University
Ave., Bronx, NY 10452-4224; 718.588.8400 or 800.367.6770;
www.hwwilson.com
Kentucky
ResourceLink
ABC-Clio
Interactive is producing CD-ROMs specifically designed to
meet individual
state’s history curricula. For example, Kentucky
ResourceLink
CD-ROM features biographies, documents, photos, and
statistics taken
from primary sources on the Internet. For information on
your state
or others, contact ABC-Clio Interactive to learn which
states have
been addressed. A single copy costs $49.00, and a lab pack
of five
costs $129.00. ABC-CLIO, 130 Cremona Dr., Santa Barbara,
CA 93116-1911;
800.368.6868 or 805.968.1911; www.abc-clio.com
Crayola®
Magic 3D Coloring Book Favorite Places
For
the very young, or those who still love using Crayons,
Crayola Magic
3D Coloring Book Favorite Places is the newest in that
software
line distributed by IBM. Children explore and color images
in five
different themes: Around Town, Circus, Fantasy, Space, and
Vehicles.
Children use textures, colors, and tools (spray paint,
brushes,
and paint hoses) to bring their 3-D images to life. A
little tidbit
from their literature, “Did you know that an average
child
will wear down 730 crayons by [his or her] tenth
birthday?”
The more than 100 pages of coloring activities include
color-by-number
and connect-the-dot activities to enhance early learning
skills.
The Windows product retails for $19.95. IBM Multimedia,
ShopIBM,
Dept. YES98, PO Box 2690, Atlanta, GA 30301; 888.411.1WEB
or 914.499.1900;
www.ibm.com
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Judi Mathis Johnson
(judimj@iste.org)
has evaluated educational software since 1979. She
has published
with ISTE since 1986 and continues to edit its
Educational
Software Preview Guide. Contact her at 2749
Birdsong Lane,
Powhatan, VA 23139; 804.598.6138.
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Copyright © 1999, ISTE (International
Society for Technology in Education).
All rights reserved.
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