MACGLOBE: SOFTWARE REVIEW AND EVALUATION

Publisher: Broderbund

Reviewed by Lisa E. Ramel

SCHOOL SUBJECTS: GEOGRAPHY, SOCIAL STUDIES, AND ART

GRADE LEVEL: GRADES 3 AND UP

PLATFORM USED FOR EVALUATION: MACINTOSH

HARD DISK OR CD-ROM?: HARD DISK

TIME TO PLAY: NO DESIGNATED TIME

RATING: 10

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM: The main screen is a regional map of the entire world. The countries are all outlined in black, and there is no color on the screen except for that of the major lake areas. At the top of the screen, the program gives you a choice of many different colors. After clicking on the color of your choice, you go to the menu to the left, which is titled PAINT, to color in areas on the map. The menu gives you the following options for coloring: All countries on Map, Region, Group, and Countries. Some are self-explanatory. Region brings up the following sub-menu: Africa, Asia, Europe, NA, SA, Central America, Middle East, SE Asia, Australia and Oceania. The program fills them in accordingly. Group consists of selections as the following: Developing Countries, Least-Developed Countries, NATO and Arab League. Countries provides you with a sub-menu of all of the world countries on the map. The other option is to simply choose a color and click on the countries you want to color on the main map. The main toolbar's VIEW menu gives you the following options: Regional Maps, Country maps, Thematic Maps, Comparison Charts, and Country Reports.

  • Country Maps
    Here you can choose an individual country to view. Each map gives you the following information: a scale of distance, the population, the area, a picture of the flag and an option to play the national anthem. Also, at the top of the screen there's a menu titled Base Map. If you click here it gives you three other options for country maps: Cities Map, Elevation Map and Features Map.
  • Thematic Maps
    This provides you with many searching options. To search themes, scroll at the bottom of the screen. Options include things like: Life Expectancy, Literacy Rate and Coal Reserves. The map highlights different areas and indicates each country's standing on each theme.
  • Comparison Charts
    This provides you with a type of bar graph that compares different countries. The choices of themes are the same here as they were for the Thematic Maps.
  • Country Reports
    Here, simply scroll on the right to choose a country, then scroll on the bottom to find out anything about that country: Languages, Imports/Exports, History, Government, etc.. The program provides you with a report on whatever topic you choose.
    Under the UTILITIES menu on the main toolbar, you have the four following options: Country Flags, Distances, Time Zones and Currency Conversion. Country Flags flags in color. Distance--allows you to type in a from and to city and will provide you with the calculated distance between those areas. Time Zones allows you to compare times around the world between areas of your choice. Currency Conversions allows you to convert currencies of any country to another.
    • Also, in the UTILITIES menu you have more options. You can change the views of the maps you're looking at, or you can choose to show the latitude and longitude marks (other options are available).
    This is not a game really, simply an individually-guided experience. So, there is not any feedback or record keeping. There are maps and flags for graphics in this program, and the national anthem is the sound option in the program. The program does print. There is also online help available to the user at the beginning of the program.

    EVALUATION OF THE PROGRAM:

    The content of this program is clearly presented to the user. It is not very complicated to use and the information is very accurate. This program is a good educational device. It is motivating to color your own map and to find out different things about different people around the world by means of modern technology. This program would definitely appeal to people of all different races, cultures and age.

    RATING OF PROGRAM:

    I would love to use this program with my elementary students one day because Geography, History and Statistics can be so boring when simply presented in lecture form. I think that kids need some sort of "hands-on" experience in the classroom. I know that when I was in the fifth grade, I simply loved to go to school on the days that I was signed up to use the Print Shop program. Using the computer for various different things enables children to feel as though they are more in control of their education and also enables them to reach out and explore the world on their own.

    APPLICATION OF PROGRAM:

    In the classroom, as a teacher, I would love to incorporate this computer program into my own teachings. Teachers can make maps of all different sorts for use in their own teachings. This technology also allows for children with all different levels of artistic and research abilities to excel. They need not worry about having inferior map-drawing skills. This program is a good way to have children prepare reports on countries or to have them research one for a show and tell presentation (i.e. assign students with a country and have them use the program to gather that country's info. ). The computer can speed up the process of gathering information. If we, as teachers, open up this door for children to use such modern technology, they will have the tool to learn about things that interest them. Sometimes it can close doors for children for teachers to simply just hand them the required information.