South Carolina Interactive Geography (review)

Southeastern Geographer Vol. XXXXI, No. 2, November 2000, pp. 241-243 SOFTWARE REVIEW South Carolina Interactive Geography. South Carolina Geographic Alliance and the Center of Excellence for Geographic Education, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina. 2000. CD-ROM. Ordering information available at http://www.cla.sc.edu/cege/index.html. Janet S. Smith The South Carolina Interactive Geography (SCIG) educational program engagingly explores fundamental aspects of geography and the state of South Carolina. The CD (designed to run on most Windows platforms) was created by geographers at the University of South Carolina and South Carolina classroom teachers for use across the curriculum and with students of varying ages. Although the focus is South Carolina, the potential for this interactive program extends well beyond the state. SCIG is organized around the six essential elements of geography: The World in Spatial Terms; Places and Regions; Physical Systems; Human Systems; Environment and Society; and Uses ofGeography (Geographyfor Life, 1994). These six main sections are subdivided based on the corresponding National Geography Standards (18 specific, objective components of Geographyfor Life, 1994). An additional main section, Virtual Field Trips, takes the user to 21 diverse locations and to the Heritage Corridor, all in South Carolina. This standards-based organization is a major strength of SCIG. Rieber (1994, p. 213) points out that "the goal...of instructional design is to bring the learner to the point of mastering the learning objectives as efficiently and as effectively as possible." SCIG clearly allows students to explore the breadth and the depth of the 18 standards and facilitates the mastery of these objectives. The organization of the program is generally linear. However, there are hyperlinks between sections. (For example, a user can connect to the explanation and application ofpeople's perceptual regions, in Places andRegions, from a discussion on cognitive maps in The World in Spatial Terms.) Although the software structure is more like a book (with sections and subsections) than other educational programs that are nonlinear, the seven sections are presented using various formats so there is little feeling of repetition. Actually, this organization matches the purpose of the program quite well in that students and teachers may wish to focus on only one area (standard) at a time. Additionally, the color-coded sections and subtle transitions Dr. Smith is Assistant Professor ofGeography, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA 16057. Internet:jssmith@gateway.net. 242SMITH cue the user they are exiting one section and moving to another. Often, novice users of many multimedia programs find them to be convoluted and confusing. This is not the case with SCIG. A valuable aspect of SCIG is that users, many of whom will be students, can clearly see the organizational structure of the program through the content hierarchy in the upper left comer of the screen. This design feature enables easy and efficient navigation throughout the entire program. From both design and educational perspectives, the strengths of SCIG are numerous. SCIG contains many well-designed explanatory animations that allow the user to visualize difficult concepts. An excellent example of this type of animation is one that depicts the flooding and the draining of a rice field. This process is nearly an impossible concept to describe verbally, but one which can be easily visualized . Additionally, the captivating photographs and graphics used throughout the Virtual Field Trips and the topical sections permit us to "see" South Carolina geography and history. The text screens are well written and thorough. Throughout SCIG, they describe and graphically depict fundamental geography concepts and terms. Examples of these include the presentations of migration, the demographic transition model, and population pyramids found in the Human Systems section. Further, the countless "hot" terms throughout SCIG support vocabulary review and mastery. Papert (1988) suggests that learning is heightened by diverse and engaging educational environments. Among numerous other interactive experiences, SCIG users are encouraged to hypothesize about settlement sites, asked to identify objects in air photos, and are quizzed on their cognitive map of South Carolina counties. There are few limitations to SCIG. Always, in a project of this size and scope, there is the design dilemma ofproviding rich and detailed information without overwhelming the user with on...