Computer Times
Editor's Choice Software
JumpStart Explorers
JumpStart Explorers (Retail $29.99; $40.95 teacher edition), from Knowledge Adventure, is a great program to teach children in pre-Kindergarten thru 2nd grade age-appropriate history and social studies. This is one of the finest educational software programs we have ever reviewed at Computer Times.
JumpStart Explorers uses sound teaching methods to help children learn about ancient world history and cultures, geography, navigational skills and problem-solving as they travel back in time with famous explorers on educational expeditions around the world. During their journeys, kids learn about everything from making silk in Asia to building a cairn near the South Pole.
JumpStart Explorers combines just the right amount of entertainment with good teaching material. It will keep the child's interest and provide an excellent foundation in history and social studies. Unlike many of the edutainment software programs we have reviewed, JumpStart Explorers does not go overboard with entertainment that seems to have little value in the overall learning process. On the contrary, every entertaining activity delivers an incredible amount of history and social studies information to young children in a very short period of time.
This is an educational program that children will want to use over and over. The only problem we see with this program is getting your child to leave the computer. The screen characters are adorable, the graphics are superb, the songs are cute and captivating, and the various activities are fun and educational. Each time you revisit a screen there are enough variations to keep you coming back. Animated videos provide historical facts in an entertaining way that is an integral and fun part of each adventure.
In this game-filled learning adventure, the fun never ends as kids climb the ranks to become the ultimate Master Explorer. They choose an expedition, and experience the thrill of history by living it, interacting with people of each period, learning interesting facts, and doing age-appropriate activities to teach skills of each period. Kids will...
Throughout these adventures, kids discover...
The program begins when kids join CJ the frog and Edison the firefly to travel back in time to find CJ's missing nieces and nephews (tadpoles) who got a little off-course in a game of hide-and-seek via a time machine. The mischievous tadpoles have scattered themselves in five locations across 5,000 years of history. As kids search for the tadpoles in the different time periods, they participate in several educational activities that introduce history and social studies.
Mapping - where kids choose a journey and plot the explorer's course to map their route. This activity introduces basic mapping concepts such as symbols and cardinal directions.
Historical Vignettes - where kids enjoy period-specific movies as they learn about historical events. These movie vignettes depict daily life, important historical events and geography through images, narration and song.
Time Cards - where kids must match up the proper time card to the specific historical period they wish to visit. Once all of the time cards have been placed in the time machine they can begin their visit.
Mazes - where kids must use critical thinking skills to navigate their way through period-specific mazes.
Time Period Activities - where kids participate in a variety of period-specific activities such as planting corn, decorating Chinese lanterns, creating their own sphinx, caring for llamas and dressing for the South Pole weather. We especially liked the activity that had the child interpret a secret Egyptian hieroglyphic message and then create their own message that could be printed in hieroglyphics on the computer's printer.
Cultural Festivals - where kids are rewarded for locating each lost tadpole with a gift from the people of each specific period. The gifts are wonderful hands-on craft instructions that can be printed out on a printer and completed outside of computer time to get kids more involved in the history and social studies lessons.
CJ the frog and Edison the firefly accompany the child throughout each journey as they provide hints and gentle reminders about what to do next. There is never a point in the program where you do not know what to do. Even the two adult educators who reviewed this program never felt lost, which is quite an accomplishment for an educational program aimed at young children. In fact, our reviewers could not quit playing with the program as they were encouraged to finish each level and complete each adventure, picking up tidbits of history they had somehow forgotten, or maybe never learned in their own education.
JumpStart Explorers has three levels of play to accommodate everyone from the youngest pre-K child to the oldest 2nd grader. It also awards stickers to the child for each 100 points accumulated. The stickers can then be pasted on a world map after both are printed via the computer's printer.
This is a wonderful educational program that we highly recommend for any classroom or home school. We applaud all of the educators, designers, programmers and support staff who participated in the development of this program. A job very well done.
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