Quest for A

Crash

Rosetta McLeod

CRASH COURSE By Rosetta McLeod USING COMPUTERS IN THE HOME Quite often I'm asked to speak to groups of adults on the topic of computers in education. Most of the parents in the audiences seem to feel rather at a loss about how to encourage learning in the home situation. We've now reached the stage where a vast number of homes possess a computer of some kind, many of them bought in the hope that they will assist the children with their school work, or help them to cope with life in this high-technology age. Parents, however, are becoming increasingly concerned that the machines tend to be used in the main for game-playing - usually arcade games. Another worry is that girls seem to show less interest than boys in computers, and this is of particular concern to those parents whose daughters are aiming for a career in a modem office where techniques rely heavily on computers. It's hard to alleviate worries such as these, as there is really no simple answer. Young children often enjoy a large amount of parental support when it comes to using computers, and some of the early learning games reviewed this month are certainly of the type to encourage parent/child involvement. Older children, however, tend not to be given this kind of support, being left very much to their own devices. Programs like Special Agent and Car Journey are helpful in letting parents see the sort of related activities their children can be directed towards. Instead of taking a back seat, the adults may even be encouraged to work with their teenagers on the games. Certainly all children ought to have the chance to develop keyboard skills at least, and this means moving away from arcade games and joysticks. I do wish, though, there were more programs designed to appeal to girls - publishers please note! THE VOWELS OF THE EARTH PART ONE - QUEST FOR A Producer: IEC Software Retail Price: £8.95 Age Range: children over 7 years, especially those with poor spelling or dyslexic problems Quest for A is the latest in IEC SOFTWARE's series of programs specifically aimed at children with learning difficulties. The program takes the form of an arcade-type game, with the player in search of a bag of gold. A rolling globe has to be moved through a network of caves as quickly as possible until you find the correct spelling a complete a word. All the words use the 'A' sound, and the child has to choose from ai, ei, ey, ay and so on. There are several layers of difficulty to select from, and these build up to the completion of words such as 'ancient', 'neighed', 'investigation' and 'beige'. On the second side of the tape a homophones program encourages the child has to distinguish between the spellings of words which sound the same but have different meanings such as plain and plane, veil and vale. Both programs can be played with a joystick, suing cursor control, or using specified keys, and it is also possible to select the length of time needed for the game. A fair amount of manual dexterity is required to remove the globe without touching the walls of the caves - if this happens the energy score displayed at the bottom of the screen is reduced. Designed by educational psychologist, Jo Westwood, this is a game that will hold children's attention and improve their spelling skills without them being aware of it. The colourful and attractive screen displays add to the appeal of the game, and the children I tried it out on we keen to do well. COMMENTS Control keys: choose from Kempston or Sinclair joystick, cursor control, or keys V, B, I, J & 9 Keyboard play: very responsive Graphics: very attractive Use of colour: good