How We Used To Live is the title of a very popular history program, produced for primary/middle schools by Yorkshire TV. Certainly, it's one I've enjoyed viewing over the years. Each series has been accompanied by a well-illustrated book. So I was particularly keen to see how they'd set about the multimedia approach by introducing computer software. The set of programs reviewed here is their second attempt following last year's efforts for the 1936-53 period, and concentrates on the years 1902-26.

They seek to develop a sense of empathy with the families through role play and discussion and consider the effects of the First World War on families and traditional industries. The suggested age range is 8/9-13, so teachers will need to be selective in their use for specific ages or ability groups.

Making Ends Meet is set in 1906. The group takes on the role of the Selby family, whose income each week is only just enough to meet the bills and leaves little for problems. In planning the budget, the family has to consider the best house, food and clothing they can afford as well as heating, entertainment, savings and insurance. The program offers a choice of two to four unexpected events, e.g. father's drinking, being out of work, mother unable to do her job as washerwoman (a north countryism?), which can affect the budget. The program offers a fascinating comparison with living conditions today and my youngsters really did acknowledge a sense of relief that they were only playing the role. I must admit they became very irate when they saw the family savings building up but had no control over using some of it instead of taking a cut in living standards as a result of father's drinking!

Making Sacrifices takes place in 1914-15. By this time the Selby's position has been improved by a legacy. They've moved house and Richard Selby is now a self-employed builder. The program considers the effect of the war on the family - should John volunteer, should Emma become a nurse, what effects are their decisions likely to have on the others - and acts as a catalyst for group discussion; quite heated at times!

Making A Profit (1919-22) sees John Selby back from the war and given the job of mill manager. The program seeks to foster empathy through the need to consider the wishes of the mill owner and further the understanding of the problems of mill owners after the First World War. The factory is set up with a number of machines and men in order to achieve a production target and the factory works for periods of six months. Costs are worked out as a result of the number of machines in use and the workers employed and sales are affected by market conditions over which the group has no control. Concern for the workers is as important as making a profit. The teacher's notes state "...the program is not designed to stimulate (presume they mean simulate?) the running of a mill at the time but to raise some of the issues involved. The variables are deliberately kept to a minimum in order to allow decisions to affect further planning." I'm not convinced that this had the desired effect - while the program allows profits to be used to "improve factory conditions" and "save against future problems", it gave no control of this to the group. e.g. they had little or no say over the decisions.

Making A Move is set in 1926 and depicts a poor farm labourer, married to Emma Selby, living in a tied cottage on a farm. The family decide to consult their MP about the advantages/disadvantages of moving to a town and factory work. The interview takes place at the computer and the group play the role of Mr. Duncan, the farm labourer.

My first reaction to the last program, and Making Sacrifices, was that they gave a rather contrived use of the computer, and the subjects would be better dealt with - thinking particularly in terms of computer time - through drama. However, if computer time isn't a problem, they should stimulate some very interesting discussion with the older age groups in particular - probably with very different results from being teacher-controlled!

The backup material accompanying each program consists of an 8-12 page booklet - maps, family tree, thumbnail sketches of the participants, photos of houses, charts for recording info. from programs - which includes everything for use with the program. particularly bearing in mind that the users will, hopefully, have access to the TV programmes and the book. I was surprised that the letter to the MP was perfectly typed - a handwritten effort, with a few errors would have been more authentic and I still haven't been able to sort out one of the factory statistics on the computer to agree with the documentation.

The programs are user-friendly and there is good use of colour in the screen text. It's unfortunate that no use is made of sound e.g. mill sounds, while the six months pass with an almost blank screen.

If How We Used To Live is used with top juniors or lower secondary children this suite of programs will provide a very useful additional, if somewhat expensive, resource, but younger children will probably find some of the language and concepts rather difficult. They provide, together with last year's edition, a sufficiently promising introduction to the use of computer programs to enhance TV programmes to look forward to further developments.