Children's
Software Review of: |
 This
program was developed by the Curious
Company which was founded in 1996 by two graduates of MIT. Their resolve
was, and is, to bring the wonder of science to kids. It is strengthened
by each enthusiastic teacher whom they work with and each excited student
touched.
Bean There, Grown That combines software with a seed growing kit (not included with the apparent evaluation copy provided for review). Since its introduction in November 1998, it has received many favorable reviews. Recent press and awards include: PC Magazine September 1999, Family PC August 1999, Scientific American's Explorations Summer 1999, Family PC Summer 1999, Macromedia People's Choice Award Finalist May 1999, SuperKids Educational Software Mar 1999, Curriculum Administrator Mar 1999, Choosing Children's Software Newsletter Spring 1999, San Diego Union Tribune Mar 16,1999, Children's Software Revue (Editor's Choice Award) Jan/Feb 1999. Additional reviews scheduled include: Technology & Learning, Science & Children, Rebecca's Garden and School Science & Mathematics Journal. Bean There, Grown That has been a great addition to many 3rd —7th grade curriculum. Teachers appreciate the focus of hands on learning for teaching science, as well as the emphasis on using the computer as a complementary tool. The Teacher's Guide and Teacher's Program are extremely helpful for lesson preparation and grading. For a glimpse at the fun and learning, see "Classroom Experience" at the website (www.curiousco.com). Typical comments from teachers appear to be along the following: Bean There, Grown That "contained a variety of information for each student to learn from with an emphasis on hands on and multi phase learning. After seeing the final results, which included graphs and reports generated from the data, the parents were very impressed with what their children had learned, and surprised at the terminology introduced throughout the program. It was a wonderful experience for all of us."Bean There, Grown That, "a botany lab in a box," comes with bean seeds, a petri dish to plant them in, a ruler for measuring growth progress, a magnifying glass to observe early development, and a CD-ROM with everything else you need, to learn the basics about plant life. The program is designed to speak the language of both scientists and young people. The onscreen host, a delightfully nerdy character in a lab coat, isn't afraid to toss out words such as "semi-permeable," but he also has humor to keep the tone light and somewhat playful. Following instructions from a series of onscreen videos, individuals proceed through nine different lessons. These include planting seeds, measuring them as the grow, and making charts of daily growth, which in turn introduces the participants to osmosis, photosynthesis, plant classification, and other botany basics. Though it is designed for grades 3-7, individuals in the lower grades should need adult help during the learning process. Following the video lessons, questions appear in the program's Auto Scribe feature, including "How large were your beans?" and "do they look alive?" Each answer becomes part of a final, printable lab report and individuals can use the Glossiraptor (a glossary of terms) to secure definitions and finish their work. Subsequent lessons on seed anatomy, measurement, tropism, leaf structure, and ecology offer more activities. By the end of the ninth day, individuals will have bean sprouts several inches tall, and have many answers about them. Each product comes with the appropriate number of seed-growing kits
(based on number of users involved) and one CD. Each CD is configured for
the number of users involved and requires its own
Bill Klutz does consulting work, primarily in the areas of Management and Computer Applications/Hardware/Software. |