Jumpstart 4th Grade Adventure

Reviewed by Carol Welch
Published by Knowledge Adventure

Age Group: Age 8 and Up
Type: Language Arts, Math, Thinking Games, Science, Social Studies
Price: $30

Requires: Windows 95/98, P 133, 4x CD-ROM, 32MB RAM, 35MB HD, 16-bit Windows sound card, 256 color

Description:

This 2-disc set provides 4th Graders with lots of practice in math, language arts, geography, science and more.

Disc 1: Sapphire Falls lets children join Sally, TJ and Gizmo on a terrific adventure where they can use all of their 4th Grade skills. The games and puzzles that must be mastered to complete the adventure provide learning and practice in a variety of 4th Grade subjects, from math and grammar to history and geography. Assessment and Adaptive Learning Technology help to start kids at the right level and progress as their abilities grow.

Disc 2: Adventure Challenge provides more of a fun atmosphere as children compete in arcade-type sporting events: rock climbing, inline skating, snowboarding and mountain bicycling. To compete in these events, players must earn tickets at the local arcade playing a Pac-man-style game using their 4th grade knowledge. After finishing an event, the player can choose a headline, fact, photo or sound to create an onscreen magazine.

Features:

  • Skill practice in a fun, adventurous setting
  • Comprehensive 4th Grade Curriculum
  • Tutoring
  • Assessment Technology - to start kids at the appropriate level
  • Adaptive Learning Technology - to advance skill levels as needed
  • Parent's Progress Report
  • Bonus downloads available online
  • J*mail - to email friends and receive email from Jump Start characters

Technical Aspects:

Discs 1 & 2 require separate installations. Disc 1 installs the Sapphire Falls Adventure and Disc 2 installs the Adventure Challenge and J*mail features. Both discs loaded problem-free on our Celeron 533.

My complaint about this title is that the games are cumbersome to control with the arrow keys. A couple of the games in the Sapphire Falls Adventure are simply slow and difficult to maneuver with the keys and would probably have worked better with mouse controls. The sports games in the Adventure Challenge are also a bit difficult to play with the keys because of slow response time.

Report and Conclusions:

Well, I'm not just overjoyed with this title and neither was my 4th grader. His complaint was the repetition of games. He never completed the first level, because he simply became bored with the games. On the first level, there are only 4 types of games to play, and each game must be played several times to move to the next level. Of course, you get different questions/problems each time you play the same game, but the repetition still grows tiresome. A better idea might have been to move between levels more quickly before the games lost their charm.

However, I will say in this title's favor that the curriculum presented is very broad (it covers a variety of subjects) and well-scoped to the 4th grade curriculum. This title does cover lots of material, making it an excellent source for review (and the tutorial section helps with new material). If you do decide to give this title a try, I would recommend limiting your child's time with the program, so that they don't tire of the games so quickly.




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