Producer: Softlee Systems
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £7.75 (including connection lead and flashcards)
Age Range: Probably from 4 to around 8

A Day at the Seaside is a spelling story tape for young children which should be used with a stereo system as mentioned previously. The detailed instructions included in the pack clearly explain how to set up the equipment, using the connection lead supplied. Side One of the tape contains the instructions for the story itself in software, and while the program is loading the user is treated to an explanatory commentary. This is particularly useful for a parent running through the program before using it with the child.

Side Two contains the story itself, A Day at the Seaside, which is read very clearly by a female voice. At specific points in the narrative, the child is asked to spell some words. The words can be introduced to the child before the program is used, using the flashcards provided in the package. Twenty words, such as 'beach', 'sea', 'crab' and 'pier' are clearly printed on one side of the card, while a writing tutor for the word is on the other. A parent or teacher can decided how to use these flashcards to best advantage before, during or after the story.

One very useful feature of the program is that, after the child has typed in the fifth word, there is an assessment of progress. If reasonable progress has been made, a further assessment and score is given after every other subsequent picture displayed on screen. If the child has made a lot of errors, however, the computer may advise the user to stop and do some preparation before starting again. In this case, the computer will empty its memory and refuse to continue. Another excellent feature is that the parent can alter the normal lower case spelling to upper case (capital letters) if required.

This program has been very well thought-out and is professionally presented. The sound is excellent and the speaker's voice is clear and pleasant to listen to. The music and sound effects contribute to the child's enjoyment of the whole. The five-year old who tested the program for me loved the story and was particularly amused by the humorous touches in it for instance the family forgetting to put the baby in their car when they set off for their day at the seaside.

My assistant was totally motivated to spell the words correctly so that the computer would show him the picture of the word, and allow him to continue with hearing the story. His final comment when we had completed the program was 'When can we do some more stories like that?' Faced with such an enthusiastic reaction, I highly recommend A Day at the Seaside for use both in the home and in schools.

COMMENTS

Control keys: words to be typed in by the child. No need to use ENTER
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: simple, but bright and attractive
Graphics: clear and effective

SAME AS ANCIENT QUESTS

£7.95, leads £1.95
Softlee Systems
35 Windy Arbour
Kenilworth
Warwickshire

Software houses specialising in educational software seem to have been off on their summer holidays for a while so there has been very little in terms of new releases for this issue. However, talking of sun, several rays of software hope have appeared and are on review this issue.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

At last programmers have woken up to the fact that educational offerings deserve the same high quality as software for the games enthusiast. Quality, high-resolution graphics, good use of colour and sound appear to be essential for arcade-type games but, until recently, educational programs have, on the whole, fallen far short of those standards. Teachers and parents are becoming increasingly wary of 'educational' tags and today's software needs to be educationally sound, capable of wide usage across the curriculum, capable of supporting associated activities and, most of all, be good value for money.

This month's offerings go at least part way to satisfying these criteria, so, without further ado get out your buckets and spades and let's go for a 'Day at the Seaside'.

This seasonal contribution is part of Softlee's 'See-Hear' system. The idea is not entirely new to the Spectrum but is an exciting development for educational users. Softlee's system uses a stereo tape one track providing the program, the other giving the audio soundtrack.

Loading this program was not easy, requiring a stereo output and careful volume setting, but, using the special lead supplied and having set up the headphones we can begin. The child (or children if you have multiple phones facility) listens to the soundtrack and responds to cues supplied both on the tape itself and within the program. The age level is 5+ and the soundtrack story is delightful for children of that age. The graphics are also impressive, illustrating the story and rewarding the correct spelling that the program requires.

Flashcards and word writing aids are included with the program, but although the whole package is well put together and simple to use it has a rather limited value used on its own. Described as an aid 'to beginning spelling' it can only run through the 21 given words in the order that they appear on the soundtrack. No variation is possible. It is useful for reinforcing the given words but it would have far more value used as a stimulus for the younger child to undertake some kind of topic work. Oral and language work are obvious follow-ups.

A great idea, superbly implemented but of limited educational value as a 'stand alone' program. (Also rather pricey!) Worth considering as a topic aid for younger children.

KING TUT

Having spent some time digging in the sand, how about a search for King Tut's treasure while you're at it? Under the Mirrorsoft banner comes a double package of 'Educational Arcade Action for 5 - 11 year olds. 'King Tut's Treasure' and 'The Count' being the titles written by Soft Option.

These programs are designed to give Maths practice and skill reinforcement over a wide level of abilities, using arcade-format. As well as developing maths skills these programs call for a logical approach and simple mapping ability.

'King Tut' provides five options, ranging from shape matching to the matching of fractions with their decimal equivalent. A choice of objects, speed and number of hazards is also available to the teacher. Movement is via keyboard or joystick and the aim of the game is to guide your nicely animated archaeologist, Professor Diggins, around an ancient ruin. Equipped only with a metal detector (which emits a tone to indicate a 'find') you must discover the hidden treasure. As well as the necessary mapping there are various nasties zipping around which you will have to avoid if you are ever to gain the final reward!

In 'The Count' a search of Dracula's Castle is necessary before you meet and destroy the Count himself. All is not that easy however, as various maths problems have to be solved along the way. Counting, and the four Rules are covered with Easy and Hard options setting the number of problems.

Both games are superb in terms of graphics and colour and the problems seem ideally suited to the target age range. Given the fact that the pair of programs are available together for £7.95 they represent good value for money and a long awaited move toward higher educational programs. (A cause which, so far, has only been taken up by relatively few software houses!)

LOOK TO THE SKY!

Finally, after a day of sun, sand and excitement how about an evening stargazing?

From Skysoft comes a complication of programs on astronomy. The programs, tried and tested by teachers, are available from a main menu, with additional starmaps and constellations which can be loaded in. The options cover a perpetual calendar, a star tracker, options to view the moon's phases, paths of planets and satellites, the track of Halley's Comet, together with viewing the moons of Mars, satellites of Jupiter, rings of Saturn, planetary ephemeris, etc., etc.

The whole compilation is extremely thorough and although the documentation is rather limited there are on-screen explanations if required. The options are much too detailed to do justice to here, suffice it to say that this is one of the best programs of its type that I have seen. With monitor output it's almost like sitting in The London Planetarium!

The quality of colour, graphics and overall presentation is excellent (the text layout has been designed using 'Letset' by Eclipse) and the capabilities of the Spectrum have been fully utilised. The Starmap option in particular is first class, including seasonal changes. An additional plus is the ability to print out the display.

No indication of age range is given, but for the more able junior child through to the experienced astronomer I cannot see a better value program becoming available for the Spectrum (even though it has one spelling mistake!). At £3.95 it represents outstanding value. Wholeheartedly recommended by someone who, as yet, cannot tell Regulus from Capella!

in conclusion I think that this month's programs typify the sort of material that many teachers with Spectrums have been searching for. If Summer or even Autumn days should happen to be wet, then power up your computer and settle down with some these programs!

All programs are for the 48K Spectrum/Spectrum +.