The Good, the Bad, & the Confusing
A Review of Let's Learn Vol.#1
Bonnie Bruno
Touted asa collection of interactivestories and games that will both teach and entertain your child for hours onend, "Let'sLearn Vol. #1" felt more like a meandering detour off the beaten learningcurve.
The good news is that there's an instructional section thatcontains a nice, neat outline. The not-so-goodnews is that there are errors throughout which don't necessarily subtractfrom the child'slearning experience (since he may not know they're errors as long as youkeep quiet) butare annoying to a parent who shells out money for the program. Just anexample: At onepoint, the user is directed to "Click on me." "Me" is nowhere to be found!When Iexperimented and clicked on a blank area several inches away, a graphicsuddenly popped out of the Twilight Zone.
The overall program ispresented in a storybook format, with anopen invitation to print the pages. That I like. By the end of theprogram, kids will have acolorful book to show off to playmates. Another plus is that every lessoncontains clear-cut instructions, a list of target skills, and a briefdescription of the theme. Parents are able to judge their child's skill level and choose to spend timewherever it's mostneeded.
"Let's Learn" is broken down into two distinct age groups: 3-5 and6-8. Ages3-5 learn the alphabet, colors, numbers, words, and object association. Oh,and just for alittle added excitement, they've thrown in some information aboutcareers.
What childwould not enjoy the challenge of deciding whether a fireman uses a wateringcan to put out ahouse fire, or whether hungry Anna would snack on an apple or an airplane?Who wouldnot love guessing whether a frog is green or purple?
Parents may want to consider buying stock in an aspirin company, as thesoftware contains some pretty interesting sound effects. Children willthrill to the instant gratification of receiving their just rewards. An oddside note is that children's voices are noticeably absent throughout theprogram. After a few dozen deliveries of "Yahoo!" and "Eeee-haaaa!" by anobnoxious adult voice, parents may opt to clean the garage instead.
"Let'sLearn Words" left me scratching my head. Here you'll find a collection ofpages supposedly geared for the very young child, with words that are farfrom age appropriate. For instance, umbrella is normally introducedaround second grade. Carpenter is learned in fourth, andquick at sixth-grade level.
Moving on to the next section, you'lldiscover asection for older children, ages 6-8: spelling (intro & advanced),sentence-building,phonics, subtraction, addition, language arts, and something called IntrotoWords &Pictures, which feels more like an afterthought. (In all fairness, Imust compliment themon the cool opening graphic, which demonstrates the correct hand positionwhen using akeyboard.)
It was disappointing to find that typing skills seems to be theprimary focus, asopposed to learning words. These word lessons left me feeling cheated, asthe onlychallenge was to retype the sentence without making any errors. Thesentence is locatedbelow a keyboard graphic. A blank space at the bottom invites the user totype thesentence again. That's it. The challenge factor falls below sea level.Ditto for "AdvancedWords & Pictures", which is certainly neither advanced nor constructive.
Imust say, themost appealing section of "Let's Learn" falls under the heading of "Let's LearnStorybooks." It includes two interactive storybooks (my least favorite ofthis area), and fourcreative storybuilding activities that allow the 6-8 year old to stretch andgrow.
I wasespecially impressed with "The Painting With No Name," a story about a girlwho paints abeautiful painting, but needs help figuring out what to name it. As shegrasps for the perfectdescription, the child is asked to click on various objects to find colorfuldescriptive wordsthere. One screen offers definitions for each word, as the child clicksagain.
At this age, it'simportant for the child to feel that he is achieving. "The Painting With NoName" gives himthat opportunity. On the other hand, the two interactive storybooksimpressed me ashurried projects. "Ashlyn Louise, Patience Please" was a simplistic talewith a fifty-poundmoral tacked on the end by impatient Ashlyn, who suddenly sees the error ofher way. When the user is asked to click on Ashlyn, a woman's voice chirps, "Hi Kids,my name isAshlyn Louise!" Surely they could have corralled a child long enough tosupply poor Ashlynwith a girl's voice!
The quality of sound throughout "Let's Learn" leavesa lot to bedesired. At several points, the sound hesitates, then stopped in mid-word.One pagecontained three different sound levels, which made me scramble for the volumecontrol.
"Let's Learn" could be an effective learning tool IF a parent isdetermined to watch for areas that need strong reinforcement. For thecreative child,there are opportunities for letting the imagination run wild. But leftalone, chances are, he'llquickly lose interest and head for the television.
School House Scorecard
| Product: |
Let's Learn Vol.#1 |
| Company: |
CrystalVision
|
| Cost: |
Not Available |
System Requirements:
PC: 386 or better
8 Megs RAM
Windows 3.1
Double-speed CD-ROMDrive
Sound Card
VGA (256 Color)
Breakdown:
Ease of Use 4
Learning Value 3
Entertainment Value 2
Graphics 2
Sound 1
Overall Score:
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