Evaluators: Hasbro Group

Title of Software: City Streets

Publisher: CS 92 

Subject Focus: Learning about the Sewer Systems

One rainy day, two college kids from CS 92 decided to take shelter in The Providence Childrenís Museum. What they found there was a strange but inviting box tucked in the corner next to a sewer system exhibit. After dodging little people busy working in the sewer systems of the museum, they made it to the looming machine. Using the big yellow ball to communicate with the box, these students found a whole new underground world, which they proceeded to explore...

 The City Streets program was designed to educate children ages 7 to 11 of the importance of the sewer system in Providence and its effect on daily life. The program runs on a computer within a larger exhibition of sewer systems. Perhaps because it was during school hours, most of the children in the museum were around the ages 3-6. The exhibitions in the museum seemed to cater toward these age groups in that the environment seemed more like a playground. Most of these kids were running around climbing on things rather than taking much notice of the computer. Because we wanted to observe a child using this program, we asked a child to ëleadí us through City Streets.

 This child, age 6, seemed very comfortable in navigating through all the different screens. It turned out that he had used this program multiple times in the past. For him, the graphics (especially the animation of the crocodile) and the sound effects were so captivating that he willingly used this program again and again. Through his repeated usage, it seemed as though he understood basic concepts that were given to him through animation and interaction.

 From this observation, we assumed that this program was successful in relaying information through visual cues, sound and interaction rather than written text. Graphically, City Streets had a consistent ëcollage-likeí aesthetic motif. The characters, drawn in a cartoon style, were attractive to the young users especially when animation was involved. All the characters were scripted well in that they were given personality. The recorded voice of Rima the Rat was cute and friendly. Even the characters who appeared only in one screen were given associated music or sound effects in addition to their voices. (The crocodile appeared on the screen dancing to De La Soul.) The variety of responses which were triggered by the userís interaction through the mouse were especially effective. For example, in one room, the user is ëdaredí to turn off the cityís supply of water. Clicking the big valve caused a humorous sequence of animations and song showing the effects of having no water throughout the city. Also, mouse down on the GIS computer caused a great rumbling motorcycle effect before the screen with a map appeared. However, the ability to pan through the map was not explained or hinted, and thus children may be confused as to what to do. A similar type of confusion can be seen in the first screen. A street is seen with a variety of ëactive itemsí. However, it is not clear that the man-hole is the transport that will take the user into the main part of the program. (The addition of this introductory screen to the program was useful in connecting the user from what is familiar to what is unfamiliar.)

 The most problematic aspect of City Streets was the text that appeared from mouse-overs on certain objects. Near the end of the program, the user comes to a screen where there are a variety of sewage plant buildings. Though the still graphics are compelling, once the user selects a building, the only response is the appearance of a text-window. At this scene, children seemed to tune out. The written text seems beyond the interest of the 7-11 age groups.

 On the whole, City Streets is an engaging educational experience. It may not teach the details of the sewer system to children, but it is successful in giving a child a basic idea of why sewers are important in the city.