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I loaded the Arizona Plants CD not sure what to expect and was spell-bound by the beautiful photos, pleasant pages, wealth of information, and versatility of the program.
When you first open the program, the Table of Contents is displayed, and this becomes your primary means to traverse the material. The Table of Contents provides links to the following: Introduction - what this is all about, why it was done, and what it includes; Features - what this CD provides to the user; Tutorial videos - teaches all the features available on the CD; Common Names - provides names, photos, specifics of each plant; Scientific Names - Provides names, photos, specifics of each plant; Special searches - allows the user to search by family, flower color, plant type, and partial name; Thumbnail - provides 11 pages of 49 plants per page, and you can click on a thumbnail to get a full-size photo and supporting information; Slide Show - 514 full-screen plant slide show that can be run at different speeds; References; and Recognition.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable CD. It is well organized, complete, versatile, and would challenge any individual interested in studying botany in general, and Arizona plants in particular. The Arizona Plants CD would be a great addition to a family's reference library.
My only complaint with the CD was that I was unable to reduce the size of the window or access other software when it was running. Often when my children work with materials, they like to document their observations using a world processing program. Similarly, it is nice to be able to take screen shots to save a particular photo or piece of information presented for use later. The design of this CD did not allow for this, which was too bad.
In spite of any drawbacks of being able to use the Arizona Plants CD in conjunction with other programs, I found it to be a very interesting resource. If a child is interested in learning more about botany, I would recommend adding this to your home library. My 11-year old son has spent several hours on his own (i.e., outside of school time) going through the information on the CD. It is amazing what he's learned and the observations he is making about plants on our property based on his knowledge of Arizona plants. That's a pretty good recommendation when an 11-year old likes it and is learning on his own.
-- Product Review by: Dr. Heather Allen, TOS Senior Analytical Consultant, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
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