Astronomy: The Earth and Beyond 1999
Distributed by First Run/Icarus Films, 32 Court St., 21st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201; 800-876-1710
Produced by Anglia Multimedia
Director n/a
CD-ROM, System requirements: CD-ROM for Windows 95/98/NT 8 Mb RAM minimum, 16 Mb recommended, sound card, 2x CD-ROM
Adult
Science
Date Entered: 11/09/2018
Reviewed by Jay Schwartz, Suffolk County Community College, Riverhead, New YorkThis program is an interactive introduction to fundamental concepts in astronomy. Individual short (under 5 minute) segments cover such topics as life cycles of stars, origin of the solar system, telescopes, and planets. There are approximately 50 of these sections. In addition, there is a glossary, photo gallery (images can be down loaded separately), interactive quizzes and a separate program on eclipses. Reproducible activity sheets are provided. The segments are clear, specific and well done. A “play list” feature allows segments to be run in any user definable sequence. Introductory material indicates that the program is “aimed at students aged 11 and over.” That assessment seems about right. Recommended for upper primary/junior high school students with a caveat: this is a British production. Some terminology is different from U.S. usage, i.e. the ”Big Dipper” is referred to as ”The Plow.” Once oriented to this, viewers should not have any problem following.