Choice Review
Educational CD-ROM products are usually of mixed value, and this one is no exception. Even the best have little more to offer than a well-illustrated textbook, and they often interpose a clunky computer interface between the user and the information. However, a CD-ROM system can also provide unusual stimulation to students, especially if the product contains moving images, sound, and interactive text that cannot be found in printed books. Exploring Earth Science is easy to use, with good on-screen help, indexing, and searching capabilities. Designed for US secondary school students as an introduction to the earth and space sciences, it functions primarily as a computerized encyclopedia in which particular topics can be examined, easily linked together, and then illustrated with color images and sounds. The "project" capability will be useful to teachers for setting up specific lessons with earth science themes. The large number of color photographs and drawings of geological and astronomical topics are interesting and well done, but they inevitably lose clarity on screen. The identification keys for rocks and minerals are an example of a good idea that is limited by the computer interface--a paper textbook is still far easier to use for this sort of work. The "star atlas" is the least valuable part of this product: it is easily surpassed in usefulness by a variety of less-expensive astronomical software programs. The plate tectonics "movies" and hierarchical indexing are the most practical features on this disc. The level of information in this package is appropriate for secondary students, as the designers intended, but too light for undergraduates who will demand more detailed data on almost all the included topics. Upper-division college students, for example, will need more chemical information for the minerals, and more evidence for the reconstruction of ancient continents. Recommended for high school audiences as well as general readers, community college students, and lower-division undergraduates.