Dinosaurs is a very popular topic in the lower age groups of primary schools. Certainly, it is one about which children are very enthusiastic, but bearing in mind the difficulty they have with the concept of time, I've never been too sure of its value from an historical point of view.

Nevertheless, the many hundreds of schools who do use this topic regularly will find Dinosaurs - from the pens of the authors of Mary Rose, Saqgara and Archaeology - a very welcome additional resource which gives a completely different dimension to that normally taken. Not only that, but it will help to give a very useful introduction to the more complicated "digs" involved in the other programs mentioned above, which they might use at a later stage.

Dinosaurs is a program intended for top infants and first year juniors, which is in itself a pleasing fact as there are few simulation type programs available for this age group. The children, working in small groups, explore an area in an attempt to discover sites where dinosaurs' bones are to be found. The area is displayed as a simple map with a figure representing the group shown in the top left-hand corner.

Moves around the map are made using N,S,E,W and D for dig keys. During the first visit to the site a trail of dots is displayed to show the positions visited during the session, but once a dig has been commenced or on future visits the trail is no longer displayed. So the children learn the need for developing a strategy for their dig and recording their moves.

Once a site has been found and the group decide to dig, a site plan in the form of a 5x5 grid is shown on the screen, and they move around using the same keys as on the main plan. A group is allowed to dig only five rectangles in any session, which means that they cannot find a complete skeleton in one dig They may find nothing at all, of course, which is realistic if frustrating. Having found part of a skeleton, they can try to discover the type of dinosaur they are excavating before completing their dig.

A set of drawings of all the sites is provided so that once the whole skeleton has been found and the dig recorded, the group can go away from the computer and find out more about it. Once they think they have identified their "find" they can check by placing an overlay, also provided, of a fleshed out dinosaur over the skeleton - a very clever touch!

The teachers' booklet quite rightly points out that dinosaur skeletons are not normally found in the diagrammatic position used in the program, nor are they always complete. The latter point can Ee overcome if the groups are encouraged to speculate on their find before they've completed their dig - as suggested above.

Unfortunately, it seems there isn't enough memory to allow a jigsaw type situation to be used, so that they would have to reconstruct the skeleton. Quite a number of my youngsters found it very easy to find the whole skeleton once they had found the first part - perhaps if it were possible to have the option to randomise the grids, or at least a few of them, the children could perform a reconstruction exercise using the grid reproductions. This would provide a greater challenge to a wider range of youngsters and also emphasise that the work of the archaeologist is not always straightforward

Emphasis in school topic work should be on the development of skills and concepts rather than the soaking up of facts. This program undoubtedly offers the opportunity of developing many of the essential skills and enhances the topic by its approach. So, all you dinosaur enthusiasts, this is definitely one for you - perhaps I'll think about time and sequence at a later stage.