Cognitive Constructivism: Information
Banks: Electronic BooksCognitive Constructivism: Information
Banks: Electronic BooksElectronic books are both like and different from printed books. Children's electronic books, for example, often have detailed color illustrations on each screen (page), along with text. They are thus "like" printed children's books. But they can also be quite different as well. For example, some electronic children's books give readers the option of having the story read to them in any of several different languages. Some also give students the option of clicking a word or phrase they cannot read and both hearing it as well as hearing a definition or explanation. Other children's' electronic books let the reader make choices in how the story progresses.
The rich drawings on each screen of children's electronic books may contain many "hot spots," objects that react when they are clicked with the mouse cursor. Most hot spots are animations, many include sound and music, and some are different when clicked a second or third time. All add to the appeal to the program but some language arts specialists have criticized electronic children's' books that have hot spots because they can distract children from the flow and meaning of the story being told. That may be a valid criticism since many hot spots do not relate to the story in any meaningful way.
Today, we are in an era when children's entertainment is dominated by television, a passive medium in which most popular programs do not ask much of the viewer. Electronic books for children like Just Grandma and Me offer some of the action and color of television with the added benefit that they are interactive rather than passive. Electronic books may help to push reading, which today must compete with television for a child's attention, a few rungs higher on many children's priority list.
The examples below illustrate some of the types of electronic books available today for children. The first example is the series of Living Books series from Broderbund. These books are distributed on CD-ROM and are very popular. Demonstration versions of several of the Living Books are on this CD-ROM. The second type of electronic book you can explore is a Web-based book. The second example below is a children's book available on the World Wide Web.
Examples
Perhaps the best-known electronic book thus far in this genre is Mercer Mayer's Grandma and Me, a CD-ROM storybook about a child's trip to the beach with his grandmother. Children can read the electronic book in much the same way that they would read a print version. Each page contains detailed illustrations and some text.
But electronic books like Grandma and Me can also be used in interactive ways. For example, the child can select to have the story read in English, Spanish, or Japanese, and the drawings on each page contain many "hot spots" that react whey they are clicked. If you click on the knothole in the tree, for instance, a squirrel peeks out and then runs around the tree trunk. Part of the appeal is finding the "live" objects.
To start reading one of the "on-line book", for example, The Boy Who Drew Cats, readers have to click on either the con or the book title for The Boy Who Drew Cats.
The next page at this site asks the user to choose between the text only version or the illustrated version of the story.
This is an adventure story about the son of a Japanese farmer killing a goblin with the help of the cats he drew.
This on-line book has 10 pages. Readers click on the highlighted hot-words "next page" and "close book" to navigate to the next page or simply close the story book.
Click An On-line Book: The Boys Who Drew Cats (http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/youth/StoryHour/) to connect to the Internet and read this on-line book.
In seven interactive activities, Bailey and his friends invite kids to explore the sounds and meanings of letters, words, rhymes, and stories. No reading skills are required: all directions and written words are spoken.
From dancing dinosaurs to roller-skating rhinos, young children learn ABCs with the animated, talking Letter Machine. Sound out words at the Three-Letter Carnival. Group animals and objects by names that rhyme or names that begin with the same letter.
Rub a dub dub, three kids in a shrub. Mother Goose rhymes take a new twist when children are the poet in Read-A-Rhyme.
Where is Edmo? It’s up to you! Direct the action and send Edmo & Houdini over, under, in, out, off, and on the doghouse in this game of simple prepositions.
Or explore adjectives by selecting words to describe a friend’s hair, eyes, nose, mouth, arms, and feet. Send Bailey’s friends on wonderful adventures. Young children's own stories, filled with spaceships, flying carpets, jungles, monsters, and more, can be printed and folded into storybooks. And they can make a card for any occasion with Kid Cards. They may also decorate and print their colorful creations.
To try out this shareware program you must click on baileys.exe in the programs/baileys/ subdirectory on ET-IT CD-ROM through File Manager or Windows Explorer.
Click here to know more about installation.
There are hot words and hot links for the children to explore further information. For example, click on the hot word "hero" (in red) and a small window pops up to explain the word. Click on the book on the following screen capture, and the pop up window let users navigate to save, exit, players, setup, go to , return, replay, and check up interesting fun facts. New features like "Hot Words" and "Fun Facts" provide online vocabulary & geographical learning opportunities wherever the child travels.
Once the fun facts button is clicked, another small window pops up to display interesting cultural tidbits. The following is the fun facts windows of Spain. It reads: "Spain is a country in Europe, and part of what is called the Iberian Peninsula. Madrid is the capital and the largest city in Spain ..."
Click on "Go To" and the information window pops up to give a brief review of the itinerary and allow to users to choose what they want to do next as seen on the following screen capture.
At the same time of playing the game, children have a chance to be exposed to foreign culture and language. While in Spain, children learn commonly seen Spanish vocabulary such as el toro, buenos dias, and so on in proper contexts. For example, the term "buenos dias" is embedded in the sentence "Can you say beunos dias, Sidney? We are going to Spain."
With the Paintbox Pals and a child's imagination, children not only read stories, they become active participants in the storytelling process. For example, the children can choose a color from the palette as shown on the following screen capture and use the mouse to color the graphic.
Key features include:
To try out this program you must click on 80ddemo.exe in the programs/80days/ subdirectory on ET-IT CD-ROM through File Manager or Windows Explorer.
Click here to learn more about installation.
Children can read the electronic book in much the same way that they would read a print version. Each page contains detailed illustrations and some text.
There are 32 specific scenes throughout the story. The following screen capture displays the first scene. The text says: "Once upon a time, in aa clearing in the woods lived a family of bears. Great Big Papa Bear, Middle-Sized Mama Bear, and Wee Little Baby Bear."
But this software program can also be used in interactive ways. The the drawings on each page contain many "hot spots" that reacts whey they are clicked with the mouse. As shown on the following screen capture, if you click on the door of the house, for instance, a big red ball appears and then rolls down the road. Part of the appeal is finding the "live" objects.
It also comes with as well as 17 separate educational games relating to one of the specific scenes throughout the story. The following screen capture, or example, shows one of the games. It asks the learns to click on a color on the palette and click on the canvas to match the scene. If the learner is too young to read, he/she can click on the "show me" button and the bear will give verbal instruction.
There are many more activities and games than simply coloring the scene.
To try out this program you must click on goldi.exe in the programs/goldi/ subdirectory on ET-IT CD-ROM through File Manager or Windows Explorer.
Click here to know about installation.
Additional Information
URL: http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/
URL: http://www.oltc.edu.au/cp/refs/wild_multimedia.html
1. When it comes to history and complex issues . . .
2. Books provide synthesized information . . .
3. Electronic books would be even better . . .
4. CD-ROM may also beat out the Internet . . .
URL: http://www.pacificrim.net/~mckenzie/when.html
URL: http://www.cowan.edu.au/education/waier_95/Adam.html
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