The Cruncher 2.0

Reviewer: Linnie Calland
Mason County Middle School
lcalland@mason.k12.ky.us

The Cruncher 2.0 by Knowledge Adventure, 1998
http://www.knowledgeadventure.com/home/
Comes on a CD-ROM for Mac/Windows
Teacher edition includes 2 CDs and teacher's guide with activity sheets for 20
Evaluated on a Windows machine
Date reviewed: May 1999
Teacher Edition Street Price: $80
Rating: 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, Cool.

The Cruncher is a spreadsheet program with easy-to-follow tutorials and cross-curricular learning projects. Projects are very nicely laid out with curricular area, skills covered (curricular and spreadsheet), level (beginner, intermediate, advanced), materials needed, and time required to complete.

The program is very helpful for anyone (student, teacher, or parent) who knows nothing about spreadsheets.

It's Way Cool in that the interactive tutorials will not proceed unless directions are followed exactly. Entertaining music and engaging characters make learning about spreadsheets more fun. Pictures (still and animated) and sounds can be added to your spreadsheets. Microsoft Excel or AppleWorks files can be imported and ideas are included for importing Cruncher spreadsheets into Hyperstudio presentations. The Cruncher would be appropriate for students age 8 and above.

The directions were not given aloud, nor could they be highlighted to be read by other screen-reading software. This made it difficult for students with a reading disability to use the program independently. Also, if a student hadn't finished a tutorial at the end of class, he couldn't save his place and had to start over the next time he got on the computer.

The project I tried with my class, after they had each worked through the tutorials, had flaws in the directions. It told them to copy and paste a column to another place, which then messed up the formulas for the next column. I had to help them correct the formulas and adjust the directions. I recommend parents and teachers work all the way through a project before having students do it.

My students really enjoyed working through the tutorials and fought over who would get to go next. The class didn't want headphones used because they all wanted to listen to the background music. This software is relevant to what all subject areas. It would be excellent for any teacher looking for ways to incorporate spreadsheets into the curriculum.

The tutorials are good practice for students who have difficulty with following directions since they could not proceed unless they did exactly what the directions told them to do.

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