Imagination Station
© 2004 iStation
Note: An iPad version is scheduled for 2014; Chromebooks to follow in 2015. The following review was written in 2004. There's not very much "imagination" to be found in this computer-delivered K-3 reading curriculum. A better name would be "direct reading instruction station." The program is delivered by CD-ROM (by installing a core program on a Windows or Mac computer) and managed online. The lessons are flash-based and are, according to one reviewer's notes, "frighteningly didactic." For example, when reading a book, children are not allowed to turn the page too soon, as judged by a hidden timer. The lessons are thick with instructions and light on opportunities to play with the ideas. Some of the application games--on the other hand--are much more fun. For example, there's a word-matching game where you must throw basketballs at target words as fast as possible. The quality of the graphics is pixelated in places, and the stories tend to be dry--based around reading level rather than an interesting idea. Note that there is a lot of content that we did not consider. The fact that the lessons are individualized and that every child is individually assessed, is a big plus to this type of approach. In order to get a higher rating, the lessons would have to be much better constructed, and higher in feelings of child control.
Windows, Mac OSX, Internet Site
Teaches: early reading, letter recogition, comprehension
CTR Rating: 57.5%