software reviews

710

Software ReviewsAnne Miller,Kathy Radziemski, Editors

Scientific Reasoning Series: Batteries andBulbs

IBM Educational SystemsP.O. Box 2150Atlanta, Georgia 30035

Grades 7-12IBM PCjr/PC/XT

Price $60.00

Batteries & Bulbs contains eight segments which use Socratic-type dialogue to guidestudents from initial understanding of how batteries light a bulb to the conditions whichcause batteries to fail. The skills students learn from this approach are valuable in anycontent area. The best way to present the program is a discussion of strengths andweaknesses.The discovery begins with a battery and bulb which students are asked to connect,

Correct connection lights the bulb. With this base, the program checks studentknowledge by presenting several examples for evaluation. More complicated structuresare presented and described, conductors and insulators are explained, and a model usingthe analogy of water in a radiator confirms the concept of the electrical circuit being a

closed loop. In one example, when I misspelled a response, the prompt came back withthe two choices rather than "wrong." Conversational tone is simple and respectful, withnatural-language responses accepted. It’s not necessary to return to the main menu tochoose a new segment, and you can move smoothly from one segment to the next witheach previous part reviewed. Significant vocabulary words are highlighted after theconcepts have been presented and/or tested. ECS allows change in writing speed, or

leaving the program at any time.Less desirable characteristics:

�it; doesn’t run in color on XT’s or PC’s, only on the PCjr�too slow on the PCjr’s�can’t page forward or backward�no hints in the "discovery" stage�at some points, the user can’t move ahead until the program is ready

Before giving an evaluation, it’s best to suggest a few caveats. Unfortunately, even256k is not enough to run the program efficiently, and the user is constantly interruptedwhile the program accesses the disk over and over again. When run on a PC or XT, thespeed improves but you lose the color�even if you have a color screen! This is no

School Science and MathematicsVolume 88 (8) December 1988

Software Reviews 711

Scientific Reasoning�(2)longer the case with the 3-1/2 disks designed for the PC/2 series. But for those schoolsnot yet blessed with shiny new IBM’s, the choice is a difficult one.These are well-designed programs that deserve more attention. Best format for them

is group presentation with discussion encouraged, or review of pre-taught concepts.

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More Teasers From Tobbs: Fractions andDecimals

Sunburst Communications39 Washington StreetPleasantville, New York 10570(800) 431-1934Price $65.00

Grades 5-8Apple He, He, Hgs

More Teasers from Tobbs enables students to construct, organize and practiceaddition, multiplication, subtraction and division of fractions and decimals. Theprogram emphasizes what the process is to solve a problem rather than the actualcomputation. This program provides opportunities for the student to develop thinkingskills at a higher cognitive level by solving problems in reverse as well as constructingtheir own problems based on their mathematics knowledge.The students are provided with a scratch pad that allows the user to ask for the

computations to be solved rather than the user always solving the computations. This isan option that can be turned off so that the student will always solve the problem.Teasers also provides an estimation option in which the students will be correct if theiranswer is within 10% of the correct answer. As a result the skill of estimation can beemphasized with the use of the program.The program is set up in a grid system in which the students fill in the grid on a

systematic basis. There are four skill levels for all the content areas which allows formany different students to use the program. The first level is straight solving ofproblems, but as you progress through the levels, the problems are solved by reversingthe order of operations (subtracting to solve an addition problem), constructing yourproblems within limits and coordinating several components of the grid to correctly fillin the problems.The program is extremely easy to use. On screen, directions can be accessed at the

main menu, and the ability to change controls is accessed by control T. This enables theteacher, but not the students, to change the controls. There is one limitation that Idiscovered. If a student is having trouble solving a problem and consistently puts in awrong answer the program does not offer help, but the student is able to press controlE at any time to return to the main menu and can then access a different skill level.

Overall More Teasers from Tobbs is a nice addition to the mathematics classroombecause it is not straight drill and practice, it provides opportunities for higher orderthinking as well as practice.

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712Software Reviews

Texas Instruments Inc.Attn: Data Systems GroupM/S 2151P.O. Box 2909Austin, Texas 78769-2909

Price $2950.00

Marcia L. UlloaNorth High SchoolPhoenix, Arizona 85014

Hugh HilditchThunderbird High SchoolGlendale, Arizona 85023

Don CaseyArizona State UniversityTempe, Arizona 85287

Personal Consultant Plus from Texas Instruments is an expert system software packagetargeted toward "the more sophisticated developer."The minimum development system requirements for PC Plus as listed in the user’s

manual require:�one double sided, double-density diskette drive�a Winchester (fixed) disk drive with at least 1.5 megabytes of available workspace�at least 640K bytes of base memory

After some searching to find a hardware system which would support PC Plus, weended up running the program on a Tandy 4000. In was necessary to reformat the harddisk drive in order to run the program. This was accomplished with the assistance of theTandy representative,The documentation on PC Plus is quite extensive and we found it to be very user

friendly. Although targeted toward the sophisticated developer, the user’s manual offerstwo "paths" through the documentation. The first path is designed for "people who arenew to expert systems and possibly unfamiliar to programming." The second path is for"people who already understand expert system concepts and want to learn themechanics quickly." The information provided in the first path is understandable andthorough.Using the information for creating a prototype knowledge base in Chapter 5 of the

user’s manual, it was fairly easy to draw analogies and we had a "one question"consultation expert system developed within an hour and a half, even though we werenot expert.The second session with PC Plus started us on the development of a slightly larger

knowledge base expert system. During this time we struggled with conceptualizing howan expert system is actually operating, getting past terms such as "root-frames" and"parameters" and structuring our knowledge base so entry of our information could beaccomplished quickly. After three hours spent with the program and user’s manual, ourknowledge was structured, our parameters were identified and all parameter relatedinformation was understood and entered, translations for parameters or errors in thestructuring of our "if" statements in our rules.As an expert system package PC Plus provides the support needed for beginners as

well as the power and extended features needed for sophisticated developers. It has thecapabilities to access external data in DOS text files, Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets and thedBaseII, III, and IIIPlus databases. Although as beginner expert system developers weare as yet unable to appropriately evaluate its more sophisticated capabilities, PC Plus iseasy enough for a capable beginner to use and it is a system you can grow into.


Software Reviews 713

Sunburst Communication Software39 Washington AvenuePleasantville, New York 10570-28981-800-431-1934 (USA)Grades: 4�AdultApple II Series

Price: $65

(Includes one disk, backup and teacher’sguide)

Mike ZimmermanBalsz School DistrictPhoenix, Arizona 85008

How The West Was One + Three X Four {West for short) is an excellentproblem-solving piece of software that teachers and students can use to develop andexpand their strategies using arithmetic notation as they analyze a problem, consideralternatives, and select their best move.A stagecoach and locomotive take turns along a number line trail in the Old West. A

student may play against the computer or another student. West generates (at random)three numbers from a spinner. From these three numbers, a student must construct anarithmetic expression to get the best move possible. On each turn, the player(s) mustdetermine which combination of the three numbers and the operations of addition,subtraction, multiplication, and division will produce the best move. Making the biggestnumber is not always the best strategy, since players can also bump their opponents,take shortcuts, or jump to the next town. The object of the game is to be the first oneto land exactly on the last town. The winner is welcomed with an animated banner. Asummary of the players’ moves is also available.West is very user friendly and will give "helps" when something is not acceptable.

For example, an operation such as addition can only be used once in constructing anexpression, i.e., 1+4+6 would not be accepted. In addition to the automatic helps,there is an option for suggested helps built into the program. West also has the optionto see "the best move" so students can compare their strategy with the computer’s. Theprogram also comes with a very good Teacher’s Guide with copyable worksheets toprepare students for a variety of skills relating to West.Not only is West good for strategy, competition and fun, it is especially appropriate

for students learning or reviewing the hierarchy of the order of operations and thesignificance of parentheses in an arithmetic expression.West ranks high on the list of excellent quality programs that Sunburst has put out in

recent years.

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