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Educational: 5.0
Overall Design: 4.5
Ease of Use: 4.7
(4.0 = good, 4.5 = very
good, 5.0 = excellent)
To order from the CDROM Store,
Demo versions of these programs can be easily downloaded
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Program Description Commentary Who Is This Program For
Why We Selected This Program Computer Requirements
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Open up this program, click on "Field Trip" and you are immediately transported to the Blue Creek Rainforest Reserve in the country of Belize, Central America. You see a picture of the trail leading into the rainforest, a field journal with an introduction to the rainforest and a map of the 28 locations you can visit on your virtual journey
The journal notes include highlighted key words that indicate what you can see at this post. As you read you are listening to a "real life" soundscape of the surrounding rainforest.
Use your mouse to "enter" the picture in front of you - you can zoom into the picture in front of you and then move freely in a complete 360 degree circle to see everything around you, above you, and at your feet.
It is like stepping into the picture and deciding where you want to look and what you want to see. If you spot an animal or insect such as the jaguar in the first scene, click on it and up will pop 3 close up photos of the jaguar and a description of the animal. 5 additional areas of information are available with the click of the mouse (habitat, behaviour, life cycle, food source and range - see top right). You can also watch a 45 second movie on the jaguar with an accompanying narrative. And this is just the beginning of your tour!
The program is also a very thorough research resource allowing you to explore specific topic areas in considerable depth. These include how a rainforest's ecology works, (seasonality, nutrient cycling & soils, and canopy levels), plant and animal characteristics, an in depth study of botany in a rainforest and a detailed exploration of the issues and consequences of the decline of our rainforests.
This version of Rainforest is designed in such a way that blind people can learn the same information as sighted people. They can hear descriptions of all images, listen to all text and access all activities using the keyboard instead of the mouse.
Full keyboard access also means that those with motor impairments can participate in all activities. For those who cannot use a regular keyboard, The Digital Field Trip to The Rainforest AT is compatible with the specially adapted keyboards available from other sources.
Something also very much appreciated by teachers and students working in biology is the program's dictionary which provides 3,137 biology related definitions. The companion program (see upper left) Digital Field Trip to the Desert is designed to cover the ecology of the desert and is similarly designed to "Rainforest" described here.
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Complete profile of the red eyed Tree Frog
Illustration and explanation of the water cycle in the rainforest
Close up of the Jaguar on the Rainforest field trip
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" I really liked moving the "camera" around to see what I could find in the forest. I really like animals so this was fun for me."
- Peter age 10"
The Digital Field Trip to The Rainforest is highly professional, scientifically sound, realistic and, above all else, great fun to use. We would recommend this as a CD-Rom ‘must’ for all Science Departments: well done to Digital Frog International.
Roger Poland, Journal of Biological Education
" I was able to do a science project at school using this program with a little research on the internet. Lots of good information and it was easy to understand." - Angela, age 13.
To me, this is the way QTVR panorama technology should be used, to provide a detailed tour of a distant place and to give the user a real sense of being there.
Gerry Blackwell, Toronto Star
The detailed information within the program will be fully exercised in the hands of high school students as a research and learning resource. With that said, the Field Trip movie journey is accessible and enjoyable for kids starting at the grade 2 to 3 level and up. At the younger age levels, this program will be very engaging for kids who really like nature and animals, exploration and discovery. For the older kids it is a real learning resource
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The use of the "virtual reality" technology that we describe in the field trip above is amazing to experience. It is a very engaging way to introduce kids to the world of nature. The use of videos to convey information about what you are seeing is also very well done. The quality and accuracy of the written content is excellent and very accessible to readers from grade 3 to 4 and up.
The depth and breadth of the content is sufficient to make this program a primary research resource for doing a school project or homework in this area of learning. Many high school students have commented on the usefulness of the dictionary, as many of the terms (and associated pronunciations) can not be easily found in conventional dictionaries.
Few software programs we have seen have the depth of material that can be found here. The mechanics are very user friendly. (It is one of the few programs we have seen for instance where you can control the sound volume of the program without having to shut down, reset the volume level and restart).
This program is a great way to introduce kids to nature both at home and in the classroom.
To get a very detailed picture of how this program corresponds to grade level learning outcomes for selected U.S states and Canadian provinces, click here.
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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Macintosh: Power PC 120 with a CD-ROM drive and System 8.6 or later, a screen capable of displaying 640 x 480 and thousands of colors (16-bit color), 30 MB of available RAM, 8 MB of hard drive space to install QuickTime.
Windows: Pentium 180 with Microsoft Windows 95/98, Me, NT or 2000.(a Pentium II 233 MHz or better is recommended), 32 MB of RAM (64 MB or more is recommended), a sound card and a screen capable of displaying 640 x 480 resolution or higher, with high color (16 bit), 8 MB of hard drive space to install QuickTime.
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or to see other programmes
My Amazing Human Body - ages 5-10
Magic School Bus Explores Bugs - ages 4-9
The New Way Things Work - ages 8 - 15
Pinball Science - ages 9-15
Starry Night Complete Space & Astonomy Pack - ages 12 & up
Science Matrix (cell biology) - ages 12 & up
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