CYBERED MIDDLE SCHOOL LIFE SCIENCE COURSE
[CyberEd (888) 318-0700]

         Delivery of multimedia content on the Internet has been a slowly-evolving process, offering lots of challenges to developers. Little by little, new software and plug-ins have become available which make it easier to enhance websites with sound and video.
         CyberED Middle School Life Science Course takes full advantage of the latest in web-based multimedia technology. It offers a well-designed, comprehensive, interactive website chock full of sequential lessons in which children are engaged in scientific investigation, problem solving, and critical thinking throughout.
         Features include 7 Units and 24 Topics. Each Topic contains three main sections: Multimedia lessons, theme-based (real world) applications, and tests which ensure that the student has mastered a specific concept. Also provided are TeacherLinks, Help and a Glossary.  The program brings life to Life Science. [Pricing information is available on the CyberEd website.]

         This subscription-based website is designed to engage students in the discovery of American History. It offers more than 15,000 hyperlinked references, including biographies, photos, essays, statistics, audio and video clips, maps, court cases, and timelines, to help students discover and better understand American History.
          A major tool used to navigate the website is Topic Exploration, which provides in-depth investigation into a theme. Within this section are subsections: Introduction (overview of the topic), Illustration (visual presentation of the concept and/or key points of the overall theme), People (factual stories that bring life to the topic), Reference (a powerful search engine with up to 25 entries to support the theme), Activity (designed to encourage thought and examination of a topic),  Quiz (a quick self-check tool where students can test their knowledge of the topic by answering true/false, multiple-choice or matching questions), Handout (printable questions which can be used for whole-class discussion), and Discussion Questions.
         This valuable website was developed to align with educational standards and guidelines in American History for Grades 6-12.

PLUMO AT THE PARK
[Micro-Intel (800) 530-8789]
         A delightful program (for Windows or Macintosh), Plumo at the Park is designed for ages 4-6, and helps children develop practical skills, such as reading, counting, sorting, matching and logic. The motivational theme for kids this age is the carnival or amusement park. Here children find large, colorful pictures which link them to activities, and there is a choice of an easy or harder level.
         Games include: Sorting characters according to symbols worn on their sweaters; learning the alphabet by typing the letters in the correct order; completing a series by using logic and numbers; identifying parts of the body; forming balls in different shapes, textures and colors; forming a pattern using dominos; completing tangram-style puzzles and matching geometrical shapes.
         An outstanding feature of the program is that the user can choose to run it in 3 languages: English, Spanish or French.