Welcome to the University of Calgary Software Evaluation Forum. The purpose of this web page is to provide educators with a database of educational software titles to evaluate. Each software title here is evaluated on a number of criteria pertaining to its educational value. Detailed descriptions and lesson ideas for each program are also available.
Although we try very hard to keep up with the latest titles coming
out, we will invariably miss far more that we evaluate. This page
depends on you to provide descriptions and ratings of software
you have used successfully in the past. Please take the time to
fill out the software evaluation form at
the bottom of this document if you know of packages not mentioned
on this site.
| Software Title | Description | |||||||||||
| Civilization | Build your civilization from scratch. | |||||||||||
| The Incredible Machine | Solve a puzzle by using various devices | |||||||||||
| Castle of Dr. Brain | A collection of puzzles in a haunted castle | |||||||||||
| Encarta | An encyclopedia of various facts | |||||||||||
| Ascendancy | A game of space conquest |
Subject |
Abbr. |
Subject |
Abbr. |
Interface |
Abbr. | ||
| Accounting | ac | French | fr | Graphical Environment | G | ||
| Art | art | Geometry | ge | Mouse Controlled | M | ||
| Biology | bi | Math | ma | Keyboard Controlled | K | ||
| Chemistry | ch | Physics | ph | ||||
| Computer | co | Social Studies | so | ||||
| Drama | dr | Trigonometry | tr | ||||
| English | en |
Civilization is a game of global discovery and exploration. The purpose is to build your one unit of settlers into a prosperous, happy and powerful civilization spanning the globe. The game is played by building up research, production, and population, accumulating new cities and developing the land. Other civilizations will eventually be encountered and will need to be dealt with through the use of diplomacy or force. Winning is accomplished by simply surviving until the year 2080 AD. At that time, you will be judged on how well you ruled and compared to actual historical leaders.
Civilization has brief descriptions of various City and Civilization Advances that the player can achieve through out the game in a module called the Civilopedia, or on-line encyclopedia. An example of a Civilization Advance would be Navigation: To achieve it, your civilization must first discover Mapmaking and Astronomy. If the user wanted to find out more about Navigation before choosing to research it, they would look it up in the Civilopedia:
A further screen can then be brought up to find out the exact benefits, in terms of game advantage, that this advance would provide:
Civilization can cement ideas learned about ancient civilizations with interesting descriptions and fun game play. It should be combined with a course on ancient history, or one stressing the advantages and drawbacks of today's political governing systems. The game supports several different styles of government ranging from anarchy to communism to democracy. Each system has definite benefits that can be explored and understood through game play.
Another approach would be to teach the students the basic elements needed for a civilization to survive and prosper, and have them attempt to implement those ideas in the game. Some elements that should be stressed are:
Microsoft® Encarta® 96 Encyclopedia, the award-winning multimedia encyclopedia, combines comprehensive, up-to-date content with the most modern technological advancements -- creating an engaging and enjoyable learning experience students of any age. Encarta Encyclopedia's interactive design and features make it easy to find the information you need -- or to explore new topics and ideas.
This application covers all subject matters. Like a regular encyclopedia,
the information that is presented by the package is very basic
and generally provides a brief but descriptive overview of the
subject in question. Because of the multimedia aspect of the application,
it provides visual and audio aspects to learning.
Powerful Fact Finding
The Pinpointer is a powerful search tool that lets you find topics
quickly and easily. Look up one of the encyclopedia's more than
26,000 articles in one step, or narrow your topic search down
by key word, category, media, time, or place.
Powerful Learning Tools
Encarta Encyclopedia lets you learn through experimentation. With InterActivities, you discover a variety of topics from world music and art to natural wonders, orbits, nutrition, and languages. Each lesson provides you with information, and some ask you to solve a puzzle with the information you learned.
Because Encyclopedia Encarta is easy to use and provides students
with a broad range of information, this application can be used
as a researching tool. A lesson plan can be developed where the
students are to use the software application for a research paper.
The students can pick any topic that Encarta provides and write
a 1-2 page summary about that topic. The main purpose in this
lesson is to get the students to use the application and it will
also demonstrate the vast amounts of information that the application
encompasses.
CSR Software Evaluation Policies
Internet Reference Library of Educational Software
The Educational Software Cooperative
Educational Software for Mathematics
Educational Software Institute
ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Lesson Plans