Fun Science For Kids
A Review of Get Up Close
Susan Davis
Get Up Close, created by SchoolHouse Interactive, is an excellent example of their mission: to provide engaging software for growing minds. Get Up Close is designed for children ages 6 to 12, hoping to interest them and teach them about the natural wonders of the world around them.
When you first open the program, you are greeted by an interface that
is perfectly designed with children in mind. The buttons are large and
colorful. Dr. Ole Mole performs amusing antics as he demonstrates
ideas and provides information on a wide variety of scientific topics.
Everything on the screen calls out to the child to explore the
mysteries of the natural world.
The program has six main categories: Library, Games, ImageScope, How
It Works, Scale It, and The Big Picture. Each category takes a
different learning approach. In Library, you have the chance to browse
a variety of information on organizations, books, and other types of
media that are available to stimulate your child's learning. In Games,
kids have two different games to play to test their knowledge. Dunk
the Doctor is a multiple choice knowledge test that gives you points
for right answers, in addition to the fun of Dunking Dr. Ole Mole.
Mixup takes the slides and photos that illustrate a variety of natural
specimens and sights and lets you mix up the graphics and reassemble
them. That one even challenged me a bit.
After that, the other areas move into the really interesting topics and sights. ImageScope is a collection of slides, pictures, and 3-D objects that show kids how much is really hidden deep inside such seemingly insignificant objects as a feather, or the head of an ant. Get Up Close helps kids to learn just how complex and magnificent even the most simple things in the universe are.
How It Works is the nuts and bolts category for scientific learning.
Kids can pick a topic and learn about how a specific principle works,
such as how and why light bends, and the difference between convex and
concave lenses. I really like the "Forget Me Knot" which, when clicked
on, gives your child a tip on how to remember what they have just
learned. I now actually know the root definition of refraction, giving
me a much stronger understanding of how it works. The "Brainstorm"
button is interesting, too. Clicking on it will provide you with a
quick test of the knowledge you have just acquired. It's a great way
to cement the idea into your brain.
The one thing I wasn't so happy about was the limitations on the
principles you are learning. While there are many lessons to learn,
each is very simple and limited. This seems nice at first, because the
lessons are tailored to young minds with short attention spans.
However, if your child shows additional curiosity beyond the grasp of
the program's initial lesson, as my tester did, there is no way to
expand upon the learning within the program. The experiments section
has a similar problem. While I find it valuable to have an actual,
practical example of the principles being taught, the experiments were
too limited to really stretch the learning process. At best, they just
demonstrated the principle a little bit better.
I found Scale It to be interesting, as it attempts to demonstrate the
vast differences of scale in various objects in the universe. Many
concepts, like the size of the sun and planets of our solar system,
are impossible to truly grasp without the use of comparisons. Scale It
does a nice job of introducing such concepts. Watching the House that
represented the sun squash the small fruit that represented the earth
was quite amusing.
The Big Picture is the most frustrating category to me. I checked this one out first, and then returned to it again later, hoping I had missed something the first time. While the diagrams and principles shown are wonderfully illustrated and demonstrated, I feel like each lesson stopped short of really opening a new realm of information for kids.
Ultimately, The Big Picture proves to be a perfect analogy for how I
feel about Get Up Close. What it does, it does very, very well. In its
attempt to intrigue and captivate its young audience, it does a great
job with the initial grab, but fails on the follow-through. I suppose,
as a starting point to introducing children to wonderful new concepts
and ideas, discoveries and explorations, Get Up Close succeeds
admirably. But as a child's version of a comprehensive introduction to
the wonders of the natural world around us, Get Up Close barely
scratches the surface of what it could be. The attempt is admirable,
and quality children's education programs such as this one are
definitely a valuable commodity and learning resource. However, while
I strongly recommend Get Up Close as a good starting program for young
children, it definitely needs a companion Get Even Closer program.
School House Scorecard
| Product: |
Get Up Close |
| Company: |
SchoolHouse Interactive
|
| Cost: |
$44.95 |
System Requirements:
MPC 2 Compliant or Better; 2X CD-ROM Drive.
Breakdown:
Ease of Use 4
Learning Value 4
Entertainment Value 3
Graphics 3
Sound 4
Overall Score:
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