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.#
