A&B Computing


Fun To Learn
By Shards
BBC Model B

 
Published in A&B Computing 1.05

Fun To Learn

Five educational games for the small sum of only £6.95 seems too good to be true - and it is! The educational value of most of the games on this tape is very low and most of them are 'old standbys' in a not particularly new guise. Having said that, they are undoubtedly well error-trapped and to some extent fun.

The package comprises one long program with a menu from which you move onto the various activities detailed below.

In the first game (COUNT) you have to count the number of letters on the screen as quickly as possible and you are praised or corrected as required. You are also told if you are getting faster or slower, though I cannot really see why.

MIXER could have been called 'Anagrams' for such it is. CALCULATOR is certainly the least useful program. It simply takes two numbers performs the selected operation and gives you the answer. A one line Basic program could do that, but you wouldn't get the fancy colour and sound!!

STARSHIP is a hangman variant with good teletext graphics and clues for the slower student. This is probably the best part of this package. CODEBREAKER is exactly that. A code (letter/letter) is set up and then words or sentences encoded and decoded as you choose. Not the most educational activity ever devised, but with some value and fun.

The cassette card claims this program to be 'a comprehensive teaching program' but this is not fulfilled by this package and I doubt if such a package will ever exist. Therefore, I do wish educational software houses would be more careful about making such claims. The result is damage to their reputation and they can also greatly hinder the acceptance of microcomputers in education as a whole.

Dave Reeder

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