Junior Maths

Supplied by SD Microsystems - £9.95

Junior Maths is an educational software package from SD Micro, which runs under the CP/M emulator. Designed for children, it aims to teach addition and subtraction in a fun and entertaining way. SD Micro also sell other learning titles, including Child's Play - a collection of programs including drawing and guess-the-number.

What's supplied

Actually 2 programs in 1, Junior Maths comes on a single floppy disk with an instruction sheet. Online help is provided, along with some notes for teachers and parents. The two programs - called 'Magic Maths' 1 and 2 - are similar in style, and both deal with addition and subtraction, but they also vary in the way they teach the subject.

On running the program, a menu appears offering a choice between the two programs. When one is selected, its opening screen is displayed, and the main menu is then shown. This is clear and simple, so a child would have no trouble in getting the software up and running.

Using Junior Maths

Both of the program's menus are identical, and the available choices offer: starting the learning, looking up a score table (see later), reading the instructions or going back to the menu (to choose the other maths program).

Firstly, Junior Maths asks for the child's name. It then uses this name throughout the learning, giving encouragement like 'Try this one, Fred' and 'Great stuff!'. Then the area of maths is asked for - addition or subtraction. Finally, it requests the level, from 1 to 5, which defines the difficulty of the questions.

The first program in Junior Maths, Magic Maths 1, presents straightforward addition and subtraction sums like '78 - 15', and the child types in the answer. A nice feature is the large numbers - being made up of smaller ones - to make the numbers clearly visible for the learner. Ten questions are asked, and a score is given at the end. If the child enters a wrong answer, he/she is given the option to try it again or move on to the next question. If a wrong answer is entered twice for the same question, the correct answer is shown and the program moves onto the next sum.

Magic Maths 2 takes a different approach by giving the user a set of answers to choose from for each question, as shown in the screenshot below:

The child moves the pointer beneath what he/she thinks is the correct answer, and presses enter. Again, there are 10 questions and a total score is shown at the end. If the child types in an incorrect answer, it can try it again or move on to the next one. Like the first program, the difficulty of the sums increases with each level - from very simple questions like '6 + 2' on the first level to '997 - 125' on level 5.

Score tables

The score tables show the answers a child gave to each of the questions. Presented in a chart, this would be useful for teachers or parents to identify areas in which the child is having difficulty. The score table stores more than one user - it shows the name of the child at the top of each table - so this would also be helpful in comparing different childrens' ability or seeing how much progress has been made with one particular child.

Comment

As a basic maths tutor, Junior Maths is very good. It has a friendly interface and the encouraging commentary will no doubt keep a child trying. The 2 variations don't differ wildly but provide a decent alternative when one of the programs has been exhausted. There is the occasional screen glitch and screen text mistake, but they aren't significant and don't detract from the overall teaching process. The score tables are an excellent provider of information for the teacher or parent and the variety of difficulty levels ensures that Junior Maths is suited for a wide range of children.

Rating: 8/10