Anyone who has tried to inspire balky grammar schoolers to practice their math will appreciate the contents of these two new Learning Company software releases, Reader Rabbit’s Math Ages 6-9 and The Clue Finders’ Math Ages 9-12. Their unpretentious titles disguise a wealth of practical fun that reinforces math skills taught from 1st through 6th grades. The version for younger children is particularly good. An enticing promotion offers a bonus CD-ROM with each title, which are priced at $30.
In Reader Rabbit’s Math Ages 6-9, Sam the Lion skippers his sailing ship, the Sea Lion, in a race, with Reader Rabbit and friends along as crew. While taking a shortcut, they are swept off course and shipwrecked on Pirate Island. If that’s not bad enough, the pirates hatch a plan to keep the crew captives.
With players’ help in solving math problems, the crew eventually will be able to outwit the pirates and collect and assemble the 50 missing ship pieces so they can escape and rejoin the race.
This program does a great job of keeping children interested in the rote practice needed to master basic math information and concepts by automatically switching activities after players have finished a few successful rounds. Children who really need to control the action all the time may hate this format. But the transitions are handled smoothly and will help most players avoid frustration or burnout on any single math topic while enjoyably moving the narrative along. The program can also be set to “practice mode,” which allows uninterrupted work in a single area.
Players don’t always have access to all nine activities when they go to the main Pirate Island map: That keeps them guessing. The three arcade games in this program really shine, unlike many programs that seem to test little but coordination. These are games that children will enjoy playing as they steadily master new skills. Other entertaining activities woven into an unobtrusive narrative explore geometry, number lines, fractions (by making pizzas for the apes), units, analog time and money values.
Overall: (star) (star) (star); game play: (star) (star) (star); graphics: (star) (star) 1/2; sound: (star) (star) 1/2
– Math Journey for grades 1-3: The bonus CD-ROM introduces progressively challenging math practice drills. Players work their way along a circular path through 10 math “lands.” Players must solve problems in three math areas before progressing to the next country and setting. The early math lands include clever interactive limmerick-like math riddles that have to be solved.
Players can practice shape and pattern recognition through quilt making in a Williamsburg setting, practice measurement by cutting virtual logs for a cabin, reinforce multiplication skills by planting crops along the Nile River’s flood plain, or work on fractions while serving pizza to opera-loving cats.
Overall: (star) (star) (star); game play: (star) (star) 1/2; graphics: (star) (star) 1/2; sound: (star) (star) 1/2
– In The Clue Finders’ Math Ages 9-12, a remote village high in the Himalayas mourns its missing treasures. Some think the terrible yeti has absconded with them; others think something far more sinister is at work. The village elders turn to the Clue Finders, a multicultural preteen quartet, to help them recover the missing heirlooms and solve the mystery of their disappearance.
This latest in The Learning Company’s Clue Finders series falls far short of other titles’ sophisticated graphics, intricate narrative and creative challenges. But the subject matter is fittingly challenging and provides good practice for the targeted age group. Four of the places offer problem-solving practice in geometry, fractions, multiplication and division. Other sites offer work with graphs, decimals, word problems. Some sites quickly border on the tedious. Yet, these arcade-style activities help reinforce memorization of more advanced math skills through fast-action problem solving.
As they complete problems or activities at each location, players collect clues. After collecting a clue, a logic cube appears. This unique feature of the program is a 3-D visual representation of all the possible suspects, missing treasures and hiding places. Using the clues and deductive reasoning, the players gradually eliminate elements from the cube until only one is left. Hopefully, that one leads to recovery of one of the 24 missing treasures.
Overall: (star) (star) 1/2; game play: (star) (star) 1/2; graphics: (star) (star) 1/2; sound: (star) (star) 1/2
– Operation Neptune, the accompanying free CD-ROM, tests math and problem-solving skills needed by children ages 9 through 14. When a space capsule carrying cannisters of top-secret information from the Galaxy Space Mission crashes into the sea, the high-tech mini-submarine, Neptune, is sent to the rescue. Players must maneuver through five progressively challenging underwater mazes, dodging weird sea creatures while recovering the cannisters and successfully practicing work with decimals, measurement, percentages, graphing and more.
Overall: (star) (star) (star); game play: (star) (star) (star); graphics: (star) (star) 1/2; sound: (star) (star) 1/2
