Fernleaf English History Programs use a historical context to foster empathy, i.e. the sympathetic understanding of others' experiences. Children playing the role of people involved in such experiences will have a greater understanding of other people's lives in different times, different places and different cultures. They will also become more aware of their identity and come to terms with their own responses to a variety of situations. Through such activities children will come to understand that there is more than one interpretation within the evidence available. The programs in the Norman England series are concerned with the effect of the Normans' arrival upon the people living in a village.

The programs are set in the period May 1066 to July 1067, and so cover the seven/eight months before and after William of Normandy became King of England. This information is set out in a useful "Overview sheet" in the program notes, which include some helpful points for discussion and an all too short list of references. As with most of Fernleaf's software, these programs have been designed for use by small groups as discussion is seen to be a very important outcome. Also included is a map of the village and a series of record sheets - one for each of the programs, which have become a feature of Fernleaf materials.

As with all these programs, the group play the the title role - in this case, the leader of the village community, the Thegn. Interestingly, the children are first asked what sort of person they think the Thegn should be and have to choose the description which best fits from a series of multichoice sentences. These choices are compared, near the end, with the decisions taken during the running of the program and the children can see whether they chose the right characteristics for their Thegn.

At the beginning of the program, the village is prosperous and the Thegn decides to build a New Hall which has to be sited, with or without help from the villagers. By August, many of the villeins are called away, leaving the village short of manpower at a vital time. Will the Thegn use his full entitlement for his own land or try to ensure all families can gather some of their harvest? Later, decisions have to be taken on whether to resist the Normans and, finally, when the position of Steward becomes available, the Thegn must respond. After every decision the effects on the map of the village and/or the summary chart of the Thegn's possessions is shown. The screen display throughout is neat, with good use of colour in the text to highlight various factors.

All the decisions taken are of a multichoice nature in order to enable those taken in one program to have a knock-on effect on the others, and it allows the programs to form a sequence linked by a series of codewords. If desired, they can be used individually, and if this alternative is taken, a random element enters into the program. I think this option is a very useful addition to the series, and older groups might make an interesting study of the long-term effects of decisions taken.

As in The Thegn, this program also introduces elements of leadership and compares/contrasts carly considerations with what actually happened. The children here view the invasion from another side and play the role of a Norman knight who is ordered into Duke William's service for his invasion of England. The input of choices to indicate the sort of leader the group consider the Knight to be leads to a decision concerning the men to accompany him.

The first problems arise when the Knight expects to be well rewarded for his help in the invasion, but instead is given a village under a Baron. The Knight's reaction to his first days in the village leads to a decision about whether to build a castle or a manor house. Trouble with the Baron upsets the plans and each solution has a drawback. Will the village become more and more prosperous or will the Knight be banished for failing to meet his service to the Baron?

By the time the group use the third program in this series, they will begin to appreciate the basic structure of society within the village. Again, having chosen a description for the Villein's wife, the group have to consider the way she would react to a serious change in her lifestyle. When her husband has to leave to help Harold face the invaders, how does she manage to keep the family in food for the winter? How does she explain her decisions to her husband when, on returning to the village, he is placed in an almost impossible position? Should they remain in the village or move and start a new life in a new village with a loss of status? In this program, the group have to consider their responses to situations in the light of what they said about themselves at the beginning of the program because, unlike programs one and two, this is not done for them in the program itself.

The last in the suite is a very different style of program from the other three in the series. You find out that there has been a scuffle between a Bordar and a Norman soldier who wants to marry the man's daughter. Realising the consequences of such a brawl, the Bordar has run away and his daughter sets out to find him in the neighbouring village before the Normans discover he is missing.

Having set the scene, the program then develops as a game, similar to Hide and Seek, with the daughter searching for the father and the Normans looking for both. The game is based on a four by four grid with one group playing the daughter and another playing the Normans. During the game, both sides are allowed five views which show what can be seen around their present position, five double moves plus single moves, but huts can only be entered from the direction indicated on the plan, so a game involving strategy is developed. Two routes to safety are available to the daughter, who can tell her father that her future husband has forgiven him for the attack.

When I first used this program, my reactions were not very favourable - I thought it was misplaced - but having played it a few times, I can see its appeal and it reminds me of Suburban Fox, that excellent simulation which is based on a similar theme in the animal kingdom.

This suite of programs keeps up the high standard set in the earlier history programs produced by Fernleaf. As with all these programs, they are intended for the 9 - 13 age group and, in my opinion, are probably used to greatest advantage with the older groups within that age span. Teachers who follow what one might consider a traditional, Unstead-type history course where, for example, the Normans are "done" in the first year juniors, may, I suspect, find that the programs are a little advanced for the majority of their children. On the other hand, the programs might encourage them to consider a retro-approach to history, which to my mind would be more in keeping with children's concept of time! But what about the younger children Fernleaf?

By the way, if you hurry up and purchase a complete set of Norman England direct from Fernleaf, you'll receive free of charge a delightful book/frieze which illustrates the complete Bayeux Tapestry in full colour. If you purchase a single program from a series, Fernleaf will exchange this for the complete series on disc or cassette and the extra cost will be the difference in price of the single program and the price of the complete set.

Having seen some of the terms set by other firms for exchanging cassettes for discs, that's an offer that's almost too good to refuse.