Inventions To Mention

Description:

VTech's Inventions to Mention: An Interactive Adventure in Discovery , tells the story of inventions through five interactive activities. Students learn about inventions, inventors, machines, technological progress, and inspirational creativity. This interactive title will capture the imagination of most youngsters, and even some adults.

The main screen allows students to select one of five activities, or the interactive scrapbook. The Scrapbook is the resource material behind the program, and brings together all the reference material from other sections of the title. The Scrapbook is arranged topically for easy browsing. Each topic is clickable, and each topic is either a still photo or a video clip.

In Clever Contraptions, students "build a better mousetrap." Students are given the task of creating a Rube Goldberg device to replicate the function of six common inventions, such as a mousetrap or a doorbell. By dragging components into a timeline, students can watch their invention come to life and even print their patent, once complete.

The Invention House allows students to explore a home, and all the inventions therein, during the period of 1850 until today. Kids can see how laundry was done before the invention of the washing machine.

This clever adventure game is amazingly imaginative. Rusty, the dog, needs to travel a great distance. When he encounters an obstacle, such as a river, the student must help Rusty by selecting an inventor to assist. Three inventors are given as choices, and the choices determine how Rusty surmounts the obstacle. For instance, Rusty might choose to cross the river using a bridge or a steamboat, depending on the inventor chosen. Kids can read a brief history of each inventor to help them make their decision. This really shines

The Works allows kids to tear apart and put back together three common devices: a computer, a VCR, and a camera. During each phase of deconstruction, students can learn more detailed information about the components of each device - such as how a camera uses gears.

In this activity, the student must help Cameraman by searching for inventions. This activity makes heavy use of the Scrapbook and slightly overlaps in functionality, but the activity is task oriented instead of self-directed discovery.

Features

• Absolutely wonderful interface
• Great audio
• Content with real substance
• Educational, yet fun
• Modest computer requirements

Technical Aspects:

Report and Conclusions:

A very charming title. I especially liked the video where they electroplated a quarter with copper.

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