MATHSLAYER!

MAKER: Finsbury
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £5.95

Alarmingly educational adventure in which you help, poor dense prince Roland thwart the wicked witch in a vest and rescue beloved Princess Daisy. After the obligatory 'Have you done times sums at school yet?' intro, it's heavy duty sword and sorcery action all the way. Slay the dragon with a dazzling display of multiplication and behead ogres with flashy subtraction! Neato, Joe. I think I'll send a copy down to the Accounts Department...

SPECTRUM LESSONS

Mike Edmunds administers a gold star or rap on the knuckles to a mixed bag of Educational Software

Almost everyone in the field of education, and beyond, must have, by now, accepted the fact that the computer has served its period of apprenticeship within the school. It has, for the most part, found an acceptable and valuable role within the school curriculum.

Although this statement may be challenged by many, it is nonetheless obvious that the computer is destined to become an even more integral part of our children's education in the future and, though not all of us may like it, as teachers and parents we have an obligation to see that its full potential is realised.

Educationally the computer is, at the very least, the equivalent of an "electronic wordcard" and can be thought of as a valuable resource to sit alongside the Maths equipment and the reference books.

From the early days (it is really only 2 years since the DOI package?) when there was a mad scramble for any software that could remotely be labeled as 'educational' we have, thankfully, become more discerning, and parents and teachers alike now look carefully to decide whether or not a particular program really fulfills a need.

The criteria by which we can judge a particular program are many and varied, but essentially there is now a more enlightened attitude about what constitutes quality software. The standard of educational programs has in creased tremendously in what is really a very short time the user can now afford to be choosy. The content of programs must increasingly be adaptable and of tasting value, able to offer an ever widening range of experiences.

That is not of course, to ignore totally the ever present 'drill and practice' programs which still have their uses, but nowadays a program must be seen to be of 'real' value to earn its place in an educational context.

The batch of programs under review this issue appear to cover a wide area of interest but not all live up to the high standards which teachers and parents alike have a right to expect from 'educational software'.

And now a tale of medieval terror, From Finsbury Computers Ltd comes the story of the Prince, the Princess and the Wicked Witch.

It seems that in the land of Mundania everyone is happy, all except the wicked witch who just cannot stand to see people enjoy themselves. So, without more ado she flies off to the Royal Palace and kidnaps Princess Serena, whisks her away to her castle which she then proceeds to make invisible.

Enter Prince Roland to save the day, only it turns out that the witch has set lots of little traps along the way and Prince Roland can't solve them without your help...

What this all boils down to is a simple practice program for children who are at the basic stages of Maths. The program is graphically excellent but has nothing new in content. The reward of the program is, of course, to save the Princess and there are some nice touches along the way.

The error trapping of answers is rather suspect and needs to be sorted out. Apart from this there are no real problems and this may well appeal to the younger home user... but once you've saved one princess...!

In conclusion, this month's batch of programs have, for the main, fallen into the drill and practice heading and although of varying quality, they nevertheless cause me to reiterate a question I posed a few issues ago... where are all the innovative educational programs?