Chinese Shadow Puppet Theater

Age Group: Age 8 and Up Type: Art/Creativity, Language Arts Price: $30

Requires: Win 95+, 100MHz, 16MB RAM, 640 x 480 256-color display, 4x CD-ROM

Description:

Pentewa InterACTIVE has the ambitious vision of using computers to increase tolerance by introducing different cultures and challenging students to compare cultural assumptions. Pentewa's premiere titles include Exploring Rock Art (images left by North American native cultures), Mexico's Day of the Dead and this title, Chinese Shadow Puppet Theater.

Chinese Shadow Puppet Theater has four main areas. In "Asian Shadow Puppets," students learn about the history of shadow puppetry, how puppets are made and the importance of puppetry to the Chinese culture. "The Honest Farmer" is a traditional Chinese folktale told in an animated shadow puppet play. Students write plays and create puppets, backgrounds and props in "The Puppetmaster's Studio." Finally, the "Build Puppets and a Theater" activity leads students through the process of assembling puppets, building a theater and putting on an original play.

Features:

• Creativity -- reinforced through arts and crafts
• Tolerance -- insights into Chinese culture, customs and values
• Cooperative Learning -- class projects to be completed away from the computer
• Language Arts -- students write stories, plays, poetry, reports, journals
• Hot spots leading to hidden screens
• On-line link to worldwide puppet sites

Technical Aspects:

Text for the animated play is both verbal and written, and the instructions within "Puppetmaster's Studio" and "Build Puppets and a Theater" are listed on-screen. For the most part a hearing-impaired user could navigate the program and participate in the activities, but an interpreter would be needed to explore the "Asian Shadow Puppets" section as some screens do not have captions.

Report and Conclusions:

The title seems most appropriate for middle-school students, but even very young children will enjoy watching the animated play, "The Honest Farmer." The lessons presented in this folklore parable (honesty and perseverance) are a welcome bonus.

Pentewa titles will provide teachers at least a week's worth of activities for their classes, according to the brochure that accompanied the CD. Additionally, the worldwide web link accessible via the program is a treasure trove of sites related to Asian puppetry, some containing curricula.

I am truly impressed with Chinese Shadow Puppet Theater, and plan to look into Pentewa InterACTIVE's other titles.