Discusses issues that students from a high school and an elementary/middle school identified as important for reviewing multimedia software programs, and includes suggestions for evaluation criteria: entertainment/educational value; skill development; measurement; speed/time; variety; and user interface. Also describes developers' use of student…

Investigated whether program type or content have an effect on middle elementary school children's software preferences and whether gender differences surface when children choose software programs of different type and content. Analysis indicated that children, regardless of gender, preferred a drill and practice mathematics program over the…

Examines the strengths and weaknesses of five selected statistical software packages with respect to how well the software enhances business statistics instructors's ability to teach traditionally difficult topics. Ranks the software on technical and pedagogical benefits. Results indicate (1) no advantage to using textbook-related software over…

Discusses results of a study conducted in two secondary schools in the Netherlands that investigated student attitudes toward the use of computers in education. Highlights include the use of two questionnaires, one paper-and-pencil and one using a computer; student motivation; gender differences; and student characteristics, including computer…

Presents a 10-point checklist for choosing children's educational software that is free of cultural bias. Each point is illustrated with examples drawn from currently available software. A sidebar lists 25 educational software programs in the areas of social studies, ecology, math and logic, and language arts from which examples were drawn. (three…

Evaluates the suitability of commercially produced historical simulation software for college-level history instruction. Provides a software evaluation template. Sees gains at all levels in constructing sequence structures for teaching cause and effect. Recommends that future designers create simulation exercises dedicated to the methodological…

Offers an evaluation of the computer simulation game "SimCity." Suggests possible uses for the game at different age and experience levels. Recommends the program as challenging, humorous, and an excellent aid in teaching about the problems and solutions facing city government. Explains that students serve as public officials. (DK)

Some important considerations for potential courseware authors to think about before they enter the authoring process are discussed. A description of the hardware requirements, an evaluation of 11 authoring tools based on quality and cost, and the conclusions are provided. (KR)

The Carroll Center for the Blind operates the Ed-Tech Loan Program which enables Massachusetts schools to borrow adaptive computer devices for blind students. For $50 per month, with a three-month maximum, schools can borrow braille printers, large-print processors, talking software, or speech or braille laptop computers to evaluate before making…

Describes a hypermedia/compact disk program designed to provide beginning and advanced music listeners with a tool for learning about an opera, i.e., "The Magic Flute." Hardware and software requirements for accessing the multimedia program are described, and it is suggested that the program can be used to study the opera's music,…

Describes software that was designed in the United Kingdom to promote conceptual change in secondary school students studying mechanics. Direct Manipulation of Mechanical Microworlds, an interactive computer simulation, and VARILAB, a computer-based language for modelling systems, are explained; and two studies that will evaluate the effectiveness…

Reviews "The American Indian: A Multimedia Encyclopedia," Version 1.0 (New York, Facts on File, Inc., 1993). This electronic product (compact disk) presents a great amount of material on American Indians from various formats, but its effectiveness is limited by the dated nature of some materials. Software design and searching features are…

Describes an experiment comparing the performance of an automatic full-text indexing software for personal computers (i.e., the Quick-Finder facility in WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows) with the human intellectual assignment of indexing terms to each document in a collection. Results are discussed in terms of ease of use, the time factor, and recall…

This study tested two Web personal spiders (i.e., agents that take users' requests and perform real-time customized searches) based on best first-search and genetic-algorithm techniques. Both results were comparable and complementary, although the genetic algorithm obtained higher recall value. The Java-based interface was found to be necessary…

Investigating the effects of computer paint programs, the authors observed two groups of first and fourth graders--one using crayons and word processors, the other using a paint program and word processors. Discusses student collaboration, visual/verbal literacy, creativity, advantages and disadvantages, and paint programs in the classroom. A…