Product Review:
Digital Frog International’s Science matrix
By Mitchell Levine

Although some theorists like Clifford Stoll may be skeptical about the ultimate benefits of our school system’s emphasis on multimedia delivery of curricula, almost everyone agrees that this currently reigning paradigm is going to remain the state of the art for the foreseeable future. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: in many ways, technology can really spark student interest in a way that more traditional methods haven’t. Few people from my generation have strongly nostalgic memories of our freshman biology lectures. No one liked plying Formaldehyde-saturated viscera with a trocar in my class, and mentioning cytoplasm, Golgi apparatus, or endoplasmic reticulum to them is rather unlikely to garner even a fleeting glimmer of recognition.

Multimedia tutorials are much more attention grabbing, but they generate their own sets of problems. Veteran teachers may find it difficult to adapt their years of familiar lesson plans to an educational software developer’s rigid collection of topics. Even worse, syllabi and standards vary by state, and vary quite widely in many cases. Although some publishers do offer standards-based curriculum for many of their titles, they may or may not be available for any particular subject or educational system. Despite the vast size of the mighty New York City school system, a large proportion of the educational software on the market is simply not designed to meet the specifics of our Regents’ demands. That’s why many progressive biology teachers will love Digital Frog International’s ScienceMatrix biology tutorial series.

It’s worth noting the goal the company sets as its bar: according to their site, the publisher envisions that “In (the) utopian future, students will no longer trudge to and from school weighed down by heavy textbooks to complete just two or three pages of homework. All students, including those with disabilities, will be able to access the learning tools they need anywhere, anytime and in the way that works for them.” Just as flexibly, the entire system itself is modular, so individual instructors can select exactly the topics their standards bases and educational judgment demands. Although the developer only has the very first of its titles available, “Cell Structure and Function,” the vast size of this fundamental topic should provide an excellent introduction to the execution of the work-in-progress as a whole: in the inquiry-based interactive portions of the program alone, a student can “build” twenty different structures, for example, and create both plant and animal cells representing a variety of different functions. A variety of 2 and 3D models are provided to help grasp relevant concepts through visualization as well as straight tutorial.

True to their word, and well within the spirit of No Child Left Behind, DFI offers a wide array of access methods, including text-to-speech and video close captioning to allow students of all different abilities the opportunity to engage with the materials, and close monitoring of it by the publishers has ensured careful alignment with both Unites States and Canadian standards for science education. Most of all, New York teachers will appreciate the price: according to the manufacturer, until March 31, 2004, the pre-release versions of the content can be downloaded in their entirety for no charge. Biology and science instructors in both secondary and middle schools (and, in my opinion, quite possibly introductory higher education) shouldn’t pass up the opportunity. To take up their offer, log onto the company's site at www.sciencematrix.com for a copy, as well as an updated list of upcoming releases.#