On 10 Aug 2005, at 18:11, Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill wrote:
There was actually quite a body of nice educational software for those 8-bit Apples.
Agree with this Byron, reckon 1980 to 1990 was a golden age for educational programs. The school versions include excellent manuals with model lessons, experiments and student worksheets. And there are dozens and dozens of great programs, especially ones that are hands-on like Broderbund's Science Toolkit - actual real experiments, not simulations. Also ones that'll print off worksheets. I've found out that in practice the Apple II stuff is often better thought out for classroom use than later ones (perhaps the many of the people involved in development were teachers or ex-teachers?) For example, recently I used MECC's Spelling Series Toolkit (graded word list) and Spelling Puzzles and Tests to create spelling worksheets; EA's Core Vocabulary Worksheet Generator (another graded word list) to create vocabulary worksheets. In the past have used math worksheet generators, comprehension worksheet generators etc. Use old Mac programs too, for example, Comic Strip Factory will only run up to OS7, so have that on the LC475
I still buy any interesting Apple II education programs on eBay, including any Science Toolkit item that turns up so as to equip a retro science lab at school! The cost is tiny = Mac LC475s for free + Mac LC Apple II cards for free, software for nothing or next to nothing, and the hands-on educational experience is better than any amount of the equivalent contemporary audio-visual passivity. Almost always I'm the only bidder.
George Rentovich from Michigan provided me this week with a whole host of disks from his collection - thanks George, you're a star!
There's stuff I'm still looking for now, particularly MECC's 'Instant Survey', (George sent me the disk) and it's add-on program called 'Instant Survey Sampler'. If anyone has either of these to hand I'm interested. I'd particularly appreciate it if anyone could possibly locate a manual for 'Instant Survey'.
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