The Way Things Work

Publisher: DK Multimedia

Reviewed by Howie Atherton

SCHOOL SUBJECTS: Mostly science but easily tied into history and math.

GRADE LEVEL: 4th and up

PLATFORM USED FOR EVALUATION: MacPowerPC 6115

HARD DISK OR CD-ROM?:CD-ROM

TIME TO PLAY: 10 minutes to 10 hours

RATING: 8

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM:

This program is a menu driven encyclopedia of inventors, their inventions, the workings of inventions from hundreds of years ago to the present. Options, options, options is the beauty of this program. Students are given the choice of topics and then literally an alphabet of potential sites to examine. For example, a student might click on the machines icon and then have a choice of the alphabet, perhaps, the letter "I" which would bring up an explanation of the lighting rod. Included is a short video animation of what causes lighting and how the lighting rod works. There are 1500 potential screens, 1000 illustrations, and 300 animations.

EVALUATION OF THE PROGRAM:

The screens come quickly thus maintaining student interest. I think the characters will appeal to most students. They are not the Dick and Jane characters that many other programs use, but they are also not the animated figures popular today. They aren't Ninja Turtles, so I will have to leave the final decision about the animation to a younger group.

The procedures are simple and logical with a point and click format that really feels like exploring with the surprise element for what might turn up. There is also an index of all the subjects to speed the process or hit areas that might have been missed. Feedback to the teacher would have to come in the form of written or oral report on what was seen. The program does have a print function that would aid students in creating reports.

The strongest appeal, to me, of this program is the exploration factor that it provides to the user. Choices are often a motivating factor in education and this program is based on that concept. I found it quite enjoyable to browse about learning about new things and checking what I thought I knew about others.

One of the strongest attributes was the many methods of getting the information across to the student. Most of the material was quick and to the point, with diagrams or animation pictures to back it up. Often there was a humorous approach to the subject which tends to stick in our mind. Many items included an animated video further reinforcing the concept. But in each case the amount of information was limited to the basics creating a conceptual understanding that didnÕt bog down the process with detail. I can still see the picture of the airplane wing and the details about flaps. I still don't see why any part of an airplane wing would be called a "landing spoiler" but I remember the picture.

APPLICATION OF THE PROGRAM:

The application of the program might be varied. A science teacher could easily assign to students a project involving inventions or inventors and let them chose by browsing this program. Depending on the intended depth or age of the students, in depth research could extend to the WWW or the library. The lesson might be as simple as browsing for an interesting topic and reporting to the class. Perhaps creating drawings or charts to help in the explanation. Perhaps the best utilization might simply be to provide the opportunity for students to browse at their leisure before and after class. Learning is best done when it is by choice and sometimes by accident. Encouraging students to come to the teacher for more information concerning a subject found via this program would be exciting. Finding out that a student went on to research on his own would be exhilarating.

I would recommend this program for students of any age with the ability to read the script. 4th and up I think.