Star Express Series

$Math and More$

Star Express Series:		Honey Bee
	Blue Jeans
	Story Teller

Overview of Star Express Series

The Star Express Series is a collection of programs for grades 3 - 6 that offer a thematic, interdisciplinary approach to teaching. The collection includes The Honeybee, The Storyteller, and Blue Jeans and provides lessons and activities for language arts, science, math, social studies, art, music, and drama. Oriented around exploratory video, with comprehensive hypertext information and teachers guide, these products are ideal for cross-curricular instruction using the interactive technology of multimedia.

Originally created for DOS, these products have been upgraded to Windows by Alchemedia, Inc. This means that the Star Express Series programs will work smoothly on all versions of Windows (95/98/me/2000/XP). The video segments have been digitally recaptured from laserdisc masters to provide improved digital video quality.

The video of The Storyteller begins the software as the main experience. The professionally made video uses vivid graphics to allow Curly Bear, The Storyteller, to show how cultures can pass forward to Native American children. Curly Bear tells ancient and powerful stories linking the Blackfeet's past to the present in the minds of the children. Blackfeet elders, like Joe Bear Medicine, use a combination of words, Native American art, and songs to tell their stories.

The computer-played video creates on-line a peak experience for the elementary age student. The interaction with this video experience aims at producing higher order thinking. A multimedia CD-ROM makes the video work interactively from within The Storyteller and provides on-line activities for the student following the TELL, TEACH, and PLAY functions. Children are encouraged to explore their own cultures and traditions.

Features and Benefits

The Star Express is a new generation of award winning learning materials offered in a multi-thematic, multi-disciplinary, and multimedia format.

The thematic lessons are organized around ten themes which should be universal to elementary classroom life, discussions, and content. The themes are; cycles, symbols, society, memory, time and space, nature, work, imagination, discovery and invention, self reliance, and meaning.

The multi-disciplinary character of the lessons is achieved as the on-line Teach function rotates the student through the four major disciplinary areas- math, science, language arts, and social studies - while still maintaining the integrity of the chosen themes.

The series uses original videos from subjects taken from all across America. The videos are supplemented with motion interviews with key subjects and additional support video. On-line and from within the computer materials, students and call up the video at any time. As they proceed through the Socratic Explore function, they access tools - interviews, glossaries, video clips, and fact files. Their explorations are captured in an on-line note taker and may be included into student writing using an appropriate authoring tool or word processor.

The videos deliver artistic and educational experiences. The subjects are wide-ranging and episodic, and from all over America.

System Requirements

* This product is compatible with Optional Management Systems such as TLC SchoolConnect, Visual CASEL, Novell ZenWorks, and Microsoft's Roaming Profiles.

Product	Supported OS	Workstation	NOS	Disk Space
Star Express – Bue Jeans	W95 osr2, W98 SE, W2K Pro SP1, XP Pro	P133 800x600 16 bit 32 MB (Audio)	Novell 3,4,5,6 w/ Minimum patch list, WINNT SP4, W2K Server SP2	35 MB for Program 100 KB per user
Star Express – HoneyBee	W95 osr2, W98 SE, W2K Pro SP1, XP Pro	P133 800x600 16 bit 32 MB (Audio)	Novell 3,4,5,6 w/ Minimum patch list, WINNT SP4, W2K Server SP2	35 MB for Program 100 KB per user
Star Express - Story Teller	W95 osr2, W98 SE, W2K Pro SP1, XP Pro	P133 800x600 16 bit 32 MB (Audio)	Novell 3,4,5,6 w/ Minimum patch list, WINNT SP4, W2K Server SP2	35 MB for Program 100 KB per user