The purpose of the term project report is to answer the following question:
What are the characteristics of educational software that should lend it to improve the quality of science education? Any developer of science educational software or science educator must answer this question in order to make or procure the right software. This is an especially key question for the educator and most of this project is geared towards helping an educator or parent.
There is a vast amount of educational software available, sometimes even for free, but most of it is of a low quality. Also few free and commercially available educational software is just what a particular student, educator or parent needs. In "The Computer Museum Guide to the Best Software for Kids" (Hapercollins) co-authors Cathy Miranker and Alison Elliot tested nearly 1,000 titles but only ranked 215 with excellent grades[(]MS,'95). A lot of available educational software is poorly designed, boring, or exciting but not very educational. Some software is fine for certain students, but only hinders or disinterests others. It is clear that an educator or parent must evaluate educational software, including using it themselves, before using it on students.
Educational software should open the minds of students and allow them to experiment and "absorb concepts". Also a teacher, lab assistant, or parent should be available to help a student and coach the learning process[(]SGT,'96, p.96). This means that parents must make themselves computer literate and educational institutions must spend proper resources in training their educators on technical issues.
"Science is not so much a collection of information as it is a way of looking at the world. Outstanding science software should reflect this characteristic of the discipline as well as offer instruction that is not easily accessible from other sources. Unfortunately, few pieces of science software exploit the unique capabilities of the computer even though more software is available for science than for any other subject area except mathematics. Yet, of all the subjects, science has the most to gain from using the microcomputer."[(], p.237)Educational software makes science "user friendly" by using games or simulations to teach without the cost and danger of real scientific experiments. "Simulations also permit careful observations of complex experiments, sometimes even going beyond what is possible with direct observation.", p.237-239) Properly programmed computers support types of analysis and data collection from a wide variety of sources that are unavailable with traditional classroom tools. This includes enhancing traditional classroom activities, enabling handheld probes, and providing access to data archives and Internet sites., 1997) Educational software also gives an educator more freedom to let students learn at their own pace and skill level.
[ (MS,'95] Silver, Marc. (1995, November 20). A Parent's Dilemma. U.S.News & World Report. [WWW document] URL http://www.usnews.com/usnews/NYCU/GIFT4.HTM
[(SGT,'96] Thomas, Susan Gregory. (1996, December 2). Software that turns kids on. U.S.News & World Report, 96. [also a WWW document] URL http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/2SOFT.HTM
[(B&G,'84] Bitter, Gary G., Gore, Kay (1984). The Best of Educational Software for Apple II Computers. Berkeley: Sybex Inc.B&G,'84