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SuperKids Software Awards
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Each month, SuperKids' teams of parent, teacher, and kids reviewers compare a selection of the newest programs in a specific subject area, like math, reading or science. Many titles are quite good -- but some stand out as being truly exceptional in terms of educational value, kid appeal, and ease of use. These are the programs recognized here as winners of the SuperKids' Best of '97 Software Award.SuperKids' goal is to be a trusted source parents and teachers can consult for unbiased information about children's educational software.
Unlike many publications which provide reviews and bestow awards, SuperKids does not sell the products it reviews, nor does it accept advertising from the companies who create the products.Thanks to the more than half-million visitors we've had this year, our second complete year has been an outstanding success, exceeding our optimistic projections for critical acceptance, readership, and sponsors. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you on behalf of the entire staff of SuperKids: our teams of parent, teacher and kid testers, review editors, copy editors, layout design team, associates, interns, and webmaster. Your response makes it worth the effort!Andrew Maisel
editor-in-chief
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THE BEST OF '97 |
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| Category | Title | Publisher | Age Range |
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| Art / Drawing | Orly's Draw-A-Story | Broderbund | 5 to 10 |
| Drawing Discoveries | Brainstorm | 8 to adult | |
| Astronomy | Starry Night Deluxe | Sienna Software | 10 to adult |
| Early Learning | Reader Rabbit's Toddler | Learning Company | 1-1/2 to 3 |
| Reader Rabbit's Preschool | Learning Company | 3 to 5 | |
| Reader Rabbit's Kindergarten | Learning Company | 4 to 6 | |
| Early Reading | Green Eggs and Ham | Broderbund | 3 to 7 |
| Encyclopedia | World Book 98 | IBM | 8 to 14 |
| Encarta 98 | Microsoft | 14 to adult | |
| Girls I, II | Madeline European Adventures | Creative Wonders | 5 to 10 |
| Let's Talk About Me | Girl Games, Inc. | pre- early teen | |
| Math | Prof. Finkle's Times Table Factory | Sing 'n Learn | 7 to 10 |
| MathQuest | Disney | 6 to 9 | |
| Music / Piano | SimTunes | Maxis | 8 and up |
| Discovering Keyboards | Voyetra | 10 to adult | |
| Problem Solving | Scrabble | Hasbro Interactive | 7 to adult |
| Science | The Way Things Work 2.0 | DK Multimedia | 8 and up |
| Typing | Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing V5 | Mindscape | 12 to adult |
| Art / Drawing | Early Reading | Music / Piano | Science |
| Astronomy | Encyclopedia | Problem Solving | Typing | Early Learning | Math | Software for Girls |
Orly's Draw-A-Story
This entertaining and unique program prompts the user to provide illustrations -- which are then incorporated into four animated stories! Highly interactive and humorous, this program is best for a creative child who likes to draw as well as color.
Drawing Discoveries
Do you want to learn how to draw? Does your child giggle at your feeble artistic efforts? Or have you given up, and stayed with stick figures? If you (or your child) is interested in learning to draw, this program offers some amazingly useful drawing techniques.
Starry Night Deluxe
Part celestial atlas, and part planetarium, this program will help you name any object you see in the sky, and locate others you wish to find. Starry Night proved it's worth to our editors when one of their six year-olds used it independently to locate the Hale-Bopp comet!
Professor Finkle's Times Table Factory
Many math programs provide lots of drills and rote learning exercises. Others try to show real world applications. This is a colorful, humorous, multimedia program that actually teaches a concept -- multiplication -- and does it very well.
Math Quest
Put together an Indiana Jones-like adventure that requires math-based problem-solving, Saturday morning cartoon animation quality, familiar Disney characters, and Robin Williams as the lead character and what have you got? An educational winner!
SimTunes
SimTunes is a paint program that doubles as a musical composition program -- or is it the other way around? It encouraged our reviewers to explore, experiment, discover and create. It may spark musical ability or simply musical appreciation in the child.
Discovering Keyboards
This program covers the basics of keyboarding in an easy-to-follow format. Even thought it emphasizes instruction over entertainment, the user is encouraged to maintain interest by learning many simple songs with the earliest of lessons, rather than focusing on perfecting just one.
Madeline European Adventures
This beautifully illustrated program takes the player on a journey where the heroine, Madeline, must recover a stolen magic lantern. To do so, she must travel from France to Switzerland, Italy, and finally to Turkey, solving problems along the way.
Let's Talk About Me
Picture an interactive, multimedia version of Young Miss magazine, add a Day-Timer scheduler, a diary and a scrapbook, and what have got? Let's Talk About Me. This program is a lot of fun for girls of the appropriate age range, and also does a good job of providing information on issues that concern them. In addition, it provides another reason for them to spend time with the computer - not a bad thing, given survey results which show girls of this age falling behind boys in computer use.
The Way Things Work 2.0
Based on the bestselling book by David Macaulay. An excellent reference guide for kids who want to know how things work, it includes links to related products, explanations of the underlying principles, and the people who invented them.
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
A well-polished program designed for everyone from a begining typist, to experienced keyboard professionals looking to improve their skills.
World Book 98
World Book gave the broadest coverage, providing at least some information on all four research questions our student review panel posed. The level of detail and writing is most appropriate for grade school students to perhaps junior high school. But World Book is for Windows only; young Mac users should opt for Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia 98.
Encarta 98
What differentiates Encarta is the level of detail provided, and the writing level -- Encarta is better suited for older users. Windows 3.1 users, however, are out of luck - Encarta 98 is for Win95/NT/Mac only. Windows 3.1 users in this age range should go for Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia 98.
Reader Rabbit's Toddlers
A visually entertaining introduction to the computer for very young users. Mouse control, shape matching, sing-alongs, and coloring activities will captivate first-timers.
Reader Rabbit's Preschool
An updated version of Let's Start Learning. Provides valuable activities for letter and sound recognition, and shapes and patterns. An excellent early learning tool for pre-schoolers.
Reader Rabbit's Kindergarten
Provides a goal-oriented storyline, where the user must master multiple levels of 4 skill-building activities encompassing numbers, relationships, spatial reasoning, and memory. Best for child with an interest in computer-based skill building and an adequate attention span. Users with a shorter attention span should consider Jumpstart Kindergarten 2 from Knowledge Adventure.
Green Eggs and Ham
Using simple words, rhymes and repetition, and captivating illustrations, pre- and early readers become "page-turning machines" in the words of one of our parent reviewers. The program also includes a fully illustrated version of the conventional print version.
Scrabble
This is one computerized board game that actually plays as well as the original -- especially if you can't find a handy opponent! Scrabble allows you to play against the computer, or against friends (local or distant). Best of all, you can't lose the pieces!
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