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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 1992

          RARE OFFICIAL TI EDUCATION CARTRIDGES:
                AN OVERVIEW AND COMMENTARY
                     by Charles Good
                   Lima Ohio User Group

     The word RARE in this series of articles refers to
command module cartirdges that were produced in limited
quantities and, for the most part, only sold to the public
after TI announced they were getting out of the home
computer market.  This education software all bears 1983
copyrights by Addison Wesley and Scott Foresman.  TI was to
handle the manufacturing and distribution, but very few of
these cartridges ever made it to retail store shelves, and
you won't find many of them commonly available at any price
from today's dealers such as TEX COMP, L.L.^Conner, and
RAMCHARGED.  Only the NUMERATION 1 module is commonly
available.

     The early published history of these titles is
interesting.  Remember, these rare cartirdges are all c1983,
and most only became available in limited quantities in
1984.  A full page Scott Foresman ad on page 53 of the
November 1982 99ER MAGAZINE (which was published at least a
month before the cover date) illustrates instruction books
for STAR MAZE, SPACE JOURNEY, and PICTURE PARTS.  The same
ad shows two TI titles I never heard of, A DOG ON A LOG and
A GHOST IN THE HOUSE.  Another full page Scott Foresman ad
in the December 1982 issue of 99ER shows the FRACTIONS 1
package.  ALL of the rare and not so rare Scott Foresman
titles (all 12 READING cartridges, the 5 MATH ACTION GAMES,
and all of the MATH COURSEWORK series cartridges) are listed
in the Sept 1983 99ER MAGAZINE as being available from
Soft-Tex of 3 Walnut Lane, Berwyn PA at prices between $40
and $59 each.

     Some of these command module titles were sold directly
to the public by TI and by Scott Foresman after TI
supposidly left the home computer market.  A dealer ad in
the September '84 issue Micropendium of lists some of the
Scott Foresman titles for $25 Some titles appear in TRITON
catalogs listed as "NEW" starting about 1987.  We obtained
ours as GRAM disk files converted from the TI COMMAND MODULE
SIMULATER disks acquired by a member of the LITI user group.
There are three general types of RARE educational
cartridges; math games, math coursework drills, and language
arts coursework drills.

     In the math game modules the emphasis is on the game
action or logic rather than the ability to solve specific
math problems.  Examples include COMPUTER MATH GAMES I, III,
and IV, as well as Scott Foresman games such as PICTURE
PARTS and PYRAMID BUILDER.  The player is asked to solve
math problems, but sometimes if the player's answer to the
problem is incorrect the computer displays the correct
answer and the game proceeds more or less as if the problem
had been correctly answered.  Many math game modules are
timed.  In my case this sometimes means that even though I
can solve the problems, if I don't solve enough of them fast
enough because of the complexity of the game action, then I
lose.

     Math coursework drill cartridges simulate classroom
learning, and in fact many are probably best used in a
classroom rather than home.  The software tries to teach
specific math concepts by solving sample problems for the
student and then giving the student a series of problems to
solve for himself.  Examples are the Milliken Math Sequence
series and the Scott Foresman Math Coursework series.  Color
graphics, music, and voice are often used to make a
potentially dull drill more interesting and to reward
correct student responses.

     Language arts drills include rare titles in the Scott
Foresman READING series.  Grammar, sentence structure,
proper interpretation of text, and research skills such as
dictionary and encyclopedia skills are among the topics
taught.

     With the availability of this "new" 1983 math education
software I think it is time for the many adult TI users to
"return to our beginnings" and make this "new" software as
well as many of the pre 1983 TI education cartridges
available to our children and/or grandchildren.  Dust off
one of your "second" consoles and set it up for the kids.
Lots of the pre 1983 products are available from dealers and
newsletter ads for less than $5 each.  If you have a GRAM
device, you can get the rare software from us.  THIS IS
QUALITY STUFF, developed by two of this country's biggest
publishers of elementary school textbooks.  Almost all of
TI's 3rd and 4th quarter 1983 television commercials land
magazine ads for the 99/4A emphasized CHILDREN'S EDUCATION.
The 99/4A has a unique combination of color graphics,
musical sound generation, and speech synthesis not easily
avialable on Apple or MS-DOS computers.  Apple computers are
the most common in public schools and I have seen lots of
Apple education software.  None of it talks! Most has no
color.  Barry Traver's home schooled son learned all his
basic math using TI cartridges.  Barry says, "I didn't teach
him the math, the TI did."

     Let us return now to those glory days in the 4th
quarter of 1983 when the TV was full of commercials
promoting the 99/4A as a tool in elementary grade education
and when lots of new education software was about to become
available.  THAT SOFTWARE IS HOW HERE!!

--------------------------
           RARE OFFICIAL TI EDUCATION CARTRIDGES:
        THE SCOTT FORESMAN MATH ACTION GAME SERIES
                  reviewed by Charles Good
                    Lima Ohio User Group

     Most of these games are more fun, in my opinion, than
the "Computer Math Games" series.  They are probably best
used in a home rather than a classroom environment, since
math concepts already learned are reinforced but you aren't
taught any new concepts.  It is necessary to solve a math
problem in order to make a move.  An incorrect answer
sometimes results in the computer displaying the correct
answer to the problem, but you don't get an explanation of
HOW to obtain the correct answer.  None of these c1983 games
are mentioned in any TI promotional literature I have seen.
They were all, apparently, released by Scott Foresman after
"Black Friday", although they are mentioned in Scott
Foresman ads prior to then.  All these gemes have on screen
instructions, make good use of music and color graphics, and
have three levels of difficulty, usually labeled HARD,
HARDER, and HARDEST.  Although originally designed to be run
from cartridges, we have all these games on library disks
112b and 114a in a format that will run out of extended
basic without the need for a gram device.

      FROG JUMP
     This game for 1 or 2 players teaches counting and
reading of basic numbers.  It is NOT a "frogger" type of
"cross the freeway" game.  You and your opponent's frogs
jump around the pond from one lily pad to another.  You
<enter> the answer of each displayed problem.  If the answer
is correct your frog will jump and you win lily pads.  The
faster you answer the more lily pads you win.  The winner is
the first player to win 20 lily pads.  Problems are of the
"Give 3 more than 48" or "52 54 56 58 Give the next number"
type.

      SPACE JOURNEY
     You have two minutes to guide your space ship home to
earth in this one player game.  To move your ship you must
answer a PERCENT problem correctly such as "Give 3.157 as
percent" (315.7%).  before you land you mist either
intercept ten meteors or land on five different planets.
After each correct answer you may do either.  The game is
not easy.  If meteors hit your ship you become lost in space
and the game ends.  If you land on a planet some disaster
usually occurs which requires you to solve extra problems to
get off the planet.  For example, "Your ship has engine
trouble.  You can repair it only if you answer two problems
correctly."  Finishing within the allowed two minutes isn't
easy, even if you know the math!

      PICTURE PARTS
     This is, in my opinion, the most amusing of this group
of math games.  It resembles FACE MAKER.  Every time you
correctly answer a basic addition, subtraction, or
multiplication problem you get your choice of parts to add
to the face you are building on screen.  Face shape, ears,
nose, hat, mouth, eyes, etc are added one at a time.  When
you are finished you have a very amusing looking face that
you yourself created.

      PYRAMID PUZZLER
     This is a two player game, or one person can play
against the computer.  The object is to be the first to
climb to the top of the pyramid.  If you land on your
opponent's square he is pushed down one space.  You get to
move Left/right or up/down each time you answer a
MULTIPLICATION problem correctly. Problems are basic "number
fact" problems.

      STAR MAZE
      You move a little creature called THID through a maze
to his home planet.  Every time you correctly answer a
division problem (no remainders) you can move THID two
spaces in the maze with the arrow keys.  Sometimes you bump
into a BADID star that sends you further back from the end
of the maze.  This game is timed.  The faster you solve the
maze the more points you earn.  You can select the time
allowed (and hence the game's difficulty), 2, 3, or 4
minutes.

      NUMBER BOWLING
     I wrote about this game a couple of years ago as a
"never released" module.  Later I learned that it was sold
in limited quantities.  The game teaches DECIMALS AND
FRACTIONS.  You are asked a question and must solve it
quickly.  If the solution is correct you bowl your ball and
the time required to solve the problem determines the number
of pins knocked down and your score.  You only get two
seconds to solve the problem and get the maximum score of
10 pins.  Usually I can't type the answer that fast even if
I know the answer immediately, so I have never bowled a
perfect game with NUMBER BOWLING.  Still, it is fun to try.
----------------------------

           RARE OFFICIAL TI EDUCATION CARTRIDGES:
     THE SCOTT FORESMAN MATHEMATICS COURSEWORK SERIES
                  reviewed by Charles Good
                    Lima Ohio User Group

     I can't say enough about nice things about this
software.  It is, in my opion, far superior to the MILLIKEN
MATH SEQUENCES TI cartridge software many of us are familiar
with.  When it comes to teaching students NEW mathematical
concepts, as opposed to just reinforcing previously learned
concepts with drills, there is nothing better than the SCOTT
FORESMAN MATHEMATICS COURSEWORK SERIES.  None of the basic
math education software for Apple or MS-DOS computers is as
good, in my opinion.  You can actually sit a student down in
front of the computer, start up the module, and have the
computer do the complete job of teaching the student an
unfamiliar math concept without any further human
intervention.  I have done so with my 1st grade daughter and
5th grade son, and I have talked to a couple of elementary
school educators who use 99/4As and who have confirmed that
these cartirdges are actually self teaching.  I find this
amazing! This software is computer assisted learning at its
very best.

     All cartridges in the MATHEMATICS COURSEWORK SERIES
were written by Thomas Hartsig.  They seem to be designed
for in classroom use, but also can be used at home.  Each
makes liberal use of sprites and color graphics, music, and
especially speech, and each is based upon a particular
theme.  The powerup cartridge menu gives a choice of several
activities, the last being a random review of the others.
At the beginning of each activity, the student is given the
choice of 1- A TEACHING EXAMPLE, or 2- PRACTICE EXERCISES.
Selecting 1- really shows the magic of the cartridge.  The
problem is set up graphically on screen step by step.
Digits float around the screen as the problem is solved, and
while all this is happening the computer TALKS the student
verbably and with on screen words through each step of the
solution.  You really have to see all of this to appreciate
how good these tutorials are.

     When 2- PRACTICE EXERCISES is selected a problem is
displayed and the student is asked to solve it digit by
digit, usually from right to left, just as the problem would
be done with pencil and paper.  A wrong answer gets a "try
again" the first time.  If the student waits too long the
computer prompts on screen and verbabally "your turn" a
couple of times and if no solution is attempted the computer
then solves the problem.  If too many problems in a series
are solved incorrectly or not at all the computer says "you
can do better than this" and immediately begins to display
some additional TEACHING EXAMPLEs.

     The better known software in this series, cartridges
that are not rare, include ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION 1,
ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION 2, MULTIPLICATION 1, and DIVISION
1.  The activities of the "rare" c1983 cartridges are listed
below.  Both NUMERATION cartridges are listed in TI's last
1983 price list.  None of the others are mentioned in
official TI promotional literature.

      NUMERATION 2- at the carnival.
     This was available from some dealers in late 1983 but
was less commonly available than Numeration 1.
TI, in its 1983 pamphlet "Texas Instruments Home Computer
Program Library" lists this cartridge as appropriate for
"late elementary, 10-12 years".  1- 4 DIGIT NUMBERS. (Write
four thousand two hundred five.  Which digit is in the
hundred's place?)
     2- COMPARE NUMBERS. (Which of two is larger?)
     3- Rounding numbers (To the nearest 10s with 5 or more
rounding to the next digit.)
     4- 5 AND 6 DIGITS
     5- 7, 8, AND 9 DIGITS
     6- DAILY USE OF NUMBERS (Weigh produce on a scale and
round to the nearest 10 ounces.)
     7- REVIEW.

      MULTIPLICATION 2- Mighty Multiplication.
     This has a cute graphic of a little flying super hero,
Mighty, who saves the day if you answer correctly.  I wrote
about this module previously under the topic of "never
released software" but I subseqeuntly found it listed on
some TRITON catalogs.
     1- MULTIPLYING 10 AND 100. (3x10=?  3x100=?)
     2- MULTIPLES OF 10 AND 100 (3x7=?  3x70=?  3x700=?)
     3- 2 AND 3 DIGITS TIMES 1 DIGIT.
     4- 2 DIGITS WITH RENAMING. (I used to call this
"carrying".)
     5- 3 DIGITS WITH RENAMING.
     6- MORE THAN 1 RENAMING.
     7- WORK PROBLEMS.
     8- REVIEWING IT ALL

      ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION 3- Adventures in Addition and
Subtraction.
     1- ADD 2 DIGIT NUMBERS.
     2- SUBTRACT 2 DIGIT NUMBERS
     3- REGROUP OBJECTS ("13 ones equals 1 ten and 3 ones.")
     4- ADD WITH RENAMING
     5- SUBTRACT WITH RENAMING
     6- ADD 3 DIGIT NUMBERS
     7- SUBTRACT 3 DIGIT NUMBERS
     8- REVIEW.

      NUMERATION 1- Under the Big Top.
     TI considers this suitable for "early elementary 5-7
years"  The cartridge was available from some dealers by the
end of 1983 but I never personally saw one in the stores.
     1- NUMBERS TO 9
     2- COMPARE NUMBERS (3<5)
     3- HOW MANY TENS
     4- NUMBERS TO 99
     5- NUMBERS IN ORSER ("5 is one less than 6.")
     6- ORDINAL NUMBERS (First, second, third, etc.)
     7- NUMBERS TO 999
     8- REVIEW

      FANTASTIC FRACTIONS 1
     1- WHAT IS A FRACTION
     2- A FRACTION OF MANY ("How many boxes are black? How
many total boxes are there?  What fraction are black?)
     3- EQUAL FRACTIONS (1/2 = 2/4)
     4- MIXED NUMBERS (Whole number plus fraction, such as 2
1/4)
     5- APPLICATIONS (Show 5 1/3 on ruler scale.)
     6- REVIEW

      DECIMAL DELI 2
     There is reference to a DECIMAL 1 in the literature,
but I havn't ever seen DECIMAL 1.
     1- PLACE VALUE (ones, tens, tenths, hundredths,
thousandths; 92.475 equals "ninety two and four hundred
seventy five thousandths")
     2- COMPARING, ORDERING ("5.374 is greater than 5.334")
     3- CONTING PLACES (35.8284, four decimal places)
     4- MULTIPLYING DECIMALS
     5- ZEROS IN THE PRODUCT (0.04 x 0.1 = 0.004; "We need
two zeros in front of the four to make three decimal
places.")
     6- APPLYING DECOMALS (Each roast beef sandwich costs
$3.93. What is the cost of 7 sandwiches?)
     7- DELI REVIEW