Virtual VTech Fun With Science DVD

Age Group: Age 8 and Up Type: Science, Social Studies, Reference Price: $50 USD

Description:

Virtual VTech Fun With Science includes six different adventures, and will spark children's interest in the sciences through fun activities and simulations. Launch a rocket, build a biome, trace a drop of pollution through the water table, build and test planes and more! Subjects include: Inventions, Flight, Earth Sciences, Space, Communication and History.

The Scrapbook has a huge number of articles, video clips and illustrations to inform about topics and items relevant to the activities. Fun characters - brainy bird Evie and dizzy fox Morris - pop up to explain what to do. And the superhero Cameraman shows up in many comic adventures that lead to further exploration in the Scrapbook.

Learn all about inventions and technology in 'Inventions to Mention'. Dig into the Scrapbook for a video on dyeing fabrics, or details on wacky inventions like a personal helicopter, or on inventors like Archimedes. Put parts in the right order in 'Clever Contraptions' to make inventions (e.g. a pet feeder) work and then print your patent. Play the 'Invention House' game to pick the invention that does not belong to a particular time period (1850, 1900, 1950 and today). Help Rusty the dog retrieve his owner's new Whizzbe by picking the inventors who can help him along the way (this was my favorite activity)!

Explore Space and Astronomy in 'Stories in the Sky'. The Scrapbook has videos on topics like the astronauts and the surface of the sun. Find out why the sky changes every night in 'Sky Map', and print activities to Make a Sundial or a Star Map. Launch a rocket in 'Countdown' (make sure it has enough fuel!) and then answer questions on aerial photos of Earth, or space telescope images in space. 'In The Stars' lets you design a constellation by picking animal parts - then write and print a myth to go with it.

Examine things that fly, both human and animal, in 'Take Flight!'. The Scrapbook tells about topics from flying foxes to rocket planes. Pick a balloon type and a landing location, then burn fuel and drop ballast to get there in 'Balloon Landing'! Print paper plane designs and follow the folding instructions to make them in 'Paper Planes'. Design a plane and take it on a test flight in 'Wind Tunnel'. In 'Winged Adventure', help the irresponsible Princess Seattle pick the correct flying animal so that she can retrieve magic jewels in different habitats.

Study the Earth and Earth Sciences in 'That's Earthshaking!'. Find out about the San Andreas Fault or Tropical Rain Forests in the Scrapbook. 'Ring of Fire' explains how 'lava makes the world go around', and provides printable activities to build 3 differents types of volcanoes and make them erupt. Beat the weather in an ocean race in 'Storm Rider'! Be a 'World Builder' and design different types of land areas to meet the needs of a variety of animals. Cook up some gold and granite in the 'Rock Lab'. Need help? The recipe is in the Scrapbook. Then assist 'Dirk Drip' to apprehend a polluted water drop as it moves through the water cycle.

'That's History!' gives an introduction to the Social Sciences. Learn historical details about different areas of the world from the Scrapbook. Then test yourself by playing the 'What's It For?' game show - recognize an Etruscan amphora or an Egyptian sculpted window. Get 'Lost In Time' and find the way back by recognizing societies and time periods in which you land. Play Magic Squares and other number games in Mayan or Roman maths in 'Add It Up'. Select 6 items for a 'Time Capsule', seal it and send it to the future. Then listen to a Bug scientist's entertaining interpretation of what the objects were for!

Explore the different ways we communicate in 'Get the Message'. The Scrapbook covers them from body language to sending and encoding messages. Help Lucinda Squirrel save the world from Dr. Incommunicado's virus by decoding messages in 'Secret Message'. Make a private code in 'Code Cruncher' and use it to encode a message to a friend. Use phone lines, fibre optic and underwater cable to set up communication networks in 'Get Wired'. 'Say What?' challenges you to solve puzzles in American Sign Language, Semaphore and Morse Code.

Features:

• Available as either a 6 CD-ROM collection or a single DVD-ROM
• Topics in Inventions, Flight, Earth Sciences, Space, Communication and History
• 30 different activities
• Comprehensive Scrapbook for reference, including audio and video clips
• Interweaving of games and educational material
• Printable activities with detailed instructions for home projects
• Printable certificates of achievement on different activities
• Help always available by '?' icon

Technical Aspects:

It was not always obvious what to do next. However, the help button usually made it clear. Sometimes it was necessary to press the sound icon to hear a verbal instruction. The Cameraman episodes required clicking on each text bubble after reading it, in order to move on to the next. This was not obvious on the screen but was explained in the User Guide, which was brief but thorough.

For the printable activities, there was not much information on the screen. However, printing did not print what was on the screen but rather a detailed activity sheet, e.g. to build a volcano. In Interplanetary Baseball, I found it difficult to make a bat selection in some cases. Most activities depend on audio clues to figure out what to do.

Report and Conclusions:

The user interface was not always obvious, but could be discovered by clicking on screen objects, and the User Guide was well done. My kids (8 and 10 years old) have been exploring different activities in 'Fun with Science' every day, and there is a lot to cover! I find it just as enjoyable and am learning a great deal (although I have some trouble with those balloon landings).

A wonderful resource for family education and entertainment in the Sciences!