The Life Science Mysteries
A Review of The Green Files
by Brad Jeske
How do man-made disasters effect the environment? How are experiments conducted to see how certain chemicals affect plant and animal life under these circumstances? What if you were on a ship at one of these disasters and it was your responsibility to find out what is happening?
Corel Corporation, the same company that brought us CorelDraw, has developed a new line of CD's called the Corel CD Home and the Life Science Mysteries series: "The Green Files" is a new interactive CD that explores the world of environmental science. Designed for kids from 6 - 16 years old, The Green Files uses the power of multimedia, through interactive games, music clips, quizzes and hyperlinks to glossary. The Oil Spill and The Gemco Disaster are the two adventures that take place on the ship called, The Blue Whale. Work with clues from faxes, computers, video conferencing, telephones and the ship's intercom that lead you on a journey through the world of microbiology.
The first step is to select the guided tour that takes you through the four levels of the ship (Office, Lab, Storage Room, Diving Area) explaining all the instruments that you'll be utilizing to solve the questions during the mission.
The next stop is the Learning Zone. This is like a classroom that takes you through the explanation of scientific facts that are necessary to answer the questions you will run up against while you are trying to gather the needed information for the mission. The Learning Zone is a comprehensive on-line textbook with hyperlinks to definitions of scientific words, but added along with this is an animated classroom that explains the different concepts with illustrations. At the end of each section take the quiz to see how well you grasped the information.
After you've complete the tour, you're ready to take on one of the assignments. Choose either the Oil Spill or The Gemco Disaster. Now, these aren't preachy insights into the evils of corporate negligence, but rather a scientific look into the results of these potential disasters by the use of conducting experiments and testing the results.
Both games operate in similar ways, only in the Oil Spill section you must dive underwater to collect specimens and then analyze which groups they should be categorized in. The diving part isn't as exciting as you might think. Basically, you go underwater in a stationary position and collect plant specimens by dragging your mouse along until the pointer turns to a hand, click it and you've got a sample. Once all the samples have been collected, head back to the lab where you study the specimens under the microscope to determine their classification.
In The Gemco Disaster, you are off the Island of Gemco where a chemical plant has just had a major spill. Water samples, soil and plant specimens are rushed to you on the ship for experiments and evaluations to see if the chemicals have contaminated the Island.
In both games a clipboard helps you keep track of specimens as you work your way through the evaluation process. Once that's been accomplished, further instructions from e-mail, fax or other communication devices will give instructions as to what the next step will be. As you answer the questions posed to you by the faxes and e-mail you are progressing through the game. Answer something wrong and further instructions will direct you to re-check your answers until all the questions have been answered correctly.
One major distraction in this CD is the background music. It plays continuously even over the voice messages that are giving hints and clues for playing the adventure, makes it nearly impossible to hear the voices. But thankfully the designers allowed for an option to turn the music off. It's much better to play this game with the music off and it runs a bit faster too.
Overall, The Green Files is a information packed game, although in this day and age of fast paced arcade type games it may be a bit tame for some kids. I definitely could see this program being utilized in science classes in school. The information is laid out in a easy to understand style with lots of reinforcement for high retention of this subject, and it's presented in a fun way.
Multimedia Cafe Scorecard
| Product: |
The Green Files |
| Company: |
Corel
|
| Cost: |
$39.95 |
System Requirements:
IBM:
WINDOWS 3.1 with MS-DOS 5.0 or above or Windows 95,
486 DX33 MHz or better, 8 MB RAM, 4 MB Hard Drive Space,
540x480 resolution with 256 colors, Double Speed CD-ROM drive,
8-Bit Sound Blaster or 100% compatible sound card,
Mouse and Speakers.
Macintosh:
68030 or better, System 7.1, 16 MB RAM,
4 MB Hard Drive Space, 540x480 resolution with 256 colors,
Double Speed CD-ROM drive.
Breakdown:
Entertainment Value 3
Educational Value 5
Concept 3
Depth 2
Interface 3
Overall Score:
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