Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia

$69.95, Windows

Teaches: reference, research skills

CTR Review

The dawn of changing references. The 1999 Deluxe edition of Encarta is an outstanding reference. Navigation is very intuitive, the graphics and videos are excellent, and you just can't beat features like the magazine-style format and the ability to have the articles read aloud. The program comes on three CDs (or on one DVD-ROM), but Disk One is used only for installation, keeping the amount of disk swapping to a minimum. Content includes 40,000 articles (4,500 more than last year), detailed maps, timelines, and much more. Media includes 85 videos, 16,000 photos and illustrations, 2,300 audio clips and 60 animations. Like the other encyclopedias, you can get content updates on the web. This is one multimedia CD-ROM that consistently captures the interest of both children and adults. Kids can hear and see Martin Luther King, Jr. give his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. They can also take part in 30 virtual tours of exotic places like the Serengeti Plain, meeting the people, hearing the sounds and seeing the local sights. "Interactivities" let kids explore topics like photography, astronomy and chemistry is a hands-on way as they participate in onscreen experiments. There's also a useful Homework Center with a Research Organizer to help students prepare written and oral reports. Other especially nice features include the ability to use voice commands to paste, print and do other things within the encyclopedia, and you can also use the text-to-speech function to read the articles out loud. All in all, this is our favorite CD-ROM encyclopedia to date, a must-have for all schools and families.