Grade 7 Up-OceanLife: Hawaiian Islands, a marvelous undersea feast for the eyes, examines undersea life in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The CD-ROM is divided into four major categories: "Family Index," "Fish Morphology," "Reef Life," and "Charts and Maps." From the attractive and easily navigable contents page, the other areas are easily accessed. From the Family Index, users select from the 32 families of undersea life by clicking on a picture of a representative of that family. Fish Morphology presents a labeled illustration of a fish. By clicking on a feature, variations of that feature are shown. For example, clicking on teeth will show the kinds of teeth that different fish possess. Reef Life contains spectacular film clips of behaviors including brooding, color change, defense, locomotion, and feeding. The Charts and Maps section shows the entire Hawaiian archipelago with the option of enlarging a map of the eight main islands which, in turn, can be enlarged. Accompanying text is readable and not at all intimidating to younger students. An icon appears on each page to provide narration for text. The most appealing aspect of the program is the spectacular film footage of undersea life. The clips are viewable in a small box or can be enlarged to full screen. An appropriately undersea-sounding score accompanies the film clips and narration. The films are viewed using QuickTime Player which is loaded on the CD and effortlessly installed. The program contains a search feature that quickly locates the searched term in the text. Another nifty feature allows the export of text or film clips as well as the printing of individual screens. Users are permitted unlimited export for non-commercial use. Even computer novices will easily find their way around this program which is flawlessly designed, visually and aurally appealing, wonderfully useable, and extremely informative.
Michael Brown, Greenbelt Middle School, MD
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"The grown-up version of 'Fish With Names Like...,' Sumeria has put out an electronic 'book' with more than 90 species of marine life found throughout the Hawaiian Islands, as well as topographical and relief maps of the region." -- Dive Travel, 5/97
4 Mouse Rating. Top 50 CD ROMs of the Year. Gorgeous Clips, enclclopedic facts. -- Mac User Magazine, 10/94
5 Disks. Highest Rating. -- CD ROM Today, 3/95
A biologist I'm not. Yet I loved it. -- Computer Graphics World, 2/95
Bronze Apple Award. -- National Educational Media Network, 5/95
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