Kestrel's Super Six

Although most of the number programs I've reviewed so far have excelled merely in their general level of mediocrity, I have persevered - and been rewarded with a super set of six programs from Kestrel.

They were written by a teaching headmaster, and it soon became obvious that he has a shrewd grasp of how the computer can be used as a positive aid in number work.

There were six programs on the review disc - entitled The First Collection although they are available separately, either on cassette or disc.

Swallows is simple in concept, using swallows on telephone wires to encourage children to use groups of 10 to assist addition. The screen display is immediately appealing to young children.

Spider is rather clever, using the idea of a spider chasing a fly to bring in directions, with clock notation, compass points, or bearings. Rather involved to get to grips with, it is never theless well worth persevering with.

Post has the child or children attempting to post letters in a block of flats, the size of which can be determined by the players.

As the postmenhave to climb staircases linking different parts of the flats, the program practises rapid addition and subtraction, as well as coordinates and arrays.

Cider could be just another tables testing program, but the graphics, together with the reinforcement of table facts in a rectangular array, make this addictive and instructive. The quicker the answer is given, the more cider is made in the presses.

What is always informative when reviewing educational programs is to look at the treatment of wrong answers. Here, the box is refilled a row at a time, and that same question will reappear later in the game.

Spot is designed to practise coordinates through the medium of dot-to-dot type pictures. The next point in the outline picture is shown and the correct coordinates must be entered, before the line is drawn.

Children enjoy trying to predict which picture is going to appear, thereby developing oral skills also.

Ramble Road is excellent, involving a great amount of thought in the context of a very enjoyable game, in which mail has to be sorted before delivery.

Of the six, I would particularly recommend Cider, Spot and Ramble Road. In a review of this length I can only try to give a flavour of this superb disc, but I hope I have shown that this is one of the best collections of number programs I have seen.

Phil Tayler