Discovery Channel School's CD-ROM Elementary CD-ROMs
© 2002 The Discovery Channel
Ten new CDs are available in the Discovery Channel's Elementary Collection, including Mummies, Astronomy, Measurement and Scale, Habitats of the World, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Life in Ancient Rome, Dynamic Earth, Times Medieval and Butterflies & Bees. Each topic-based CD offers a library of reference material, an activity lab, a theater with 5-10 minutes of Discovery Channel videos and a studio where kids can create multimedia presentations. Also included is a printable teacher's guide. On the positive side, these CDs offer a variety of activities (Venn diagrams, writing assignments, research opportunities, etc.), plus interesting video. Weaknesses include long wait times in the brain teaser games, problems with ease of use (it's not easy to go back to a previous screen, for instance) and no built-in record-keeping (kids must save to disk). Still, for a school district with some money to spend, these programs will nicely supplement the curriculum.
$49.95, Win, Mac
Teaches: mummies, animals, measurement, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, earth science