Jumpstart 2nd Grade Math
Reviewed by Anise Hollingshead
Published by Knowledge Adventure

Age Group: Age 8 and Up Type: Math Price: $29.99 US

PC version requires:
486, 2x CD, 8M RAM, 15 M hard drive space

Mac version requires:
Available

Description:

CJ is back in his second game, Jumpstart 2nd Grade Math. This time around, he must use all his math skills to help free the King's family from the evil Ratso, who has taken over the Castle! He must find the ingredients to the magic potions to release the prisoners, and along the way collect bravery points. After he has released all 5 prisoners and collected 100 points, then it is time to defeat Ratso in his lair, and restore the kingdom!

The adventure starts with the capture of the royal family who are placed inside the Great Hall mirror. They will tell you where you need to go first to get an ingredient, and each time an ingredient is collected, they will then tell you where to go next. You collect ingredients by successfully completing math games, and you can also earn bravery points for each game (you will need 100 points to finish the game). There are 6 main rooms, the Banquet Hall, the Treasury, the Jousting Arena, the Stained Glass Room, the Forge, and the Catapult. Each room has three difficulty settings, which will be automatically increased or decreased according to the outcome of games. Also, there are several challenges by Ratso and his henchmen along the way at various intervals.

Jumpstart 2nd Grade Math implements all the math curriculum that will be encountered by the typical 2nd grader, but the presentation of some of the material is difficult because of the timed elements in some games, and also the difficulty settings advance too quickly. In the Jousting Arena, for example, CJ must answer 7 out of 10 math addition or subtraction equations and choose the correct answer from 3 jousting rings. The problem here is that CJ is galloping towards the rings very quickly, and the player doesn't have much time before having to hook a ring. Also, the easy level isn't very easy especially if your child is just learning the addition and subtracting facts! After a few successful runs, the level advances to medium, and the player must answer equations like (36-24). Most children learn how to subtract double digits by placing them in a vertical grouping, not a horizontal one, so what with having to subtract the problem in your head with an awkward visual presentation, you must also do it very quickly to hook that ring! This activity would have been much better with some way to work out the problem just like on paper (especially with the hard level, which involves regrouping) and slowing down the action. The Catapult is another example of the same problems, and the Treasury is an arcade style game that is somewhat difficult because of the manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination needed to play.

The Stained Glass Room, the Banquet Hall, and the Forge were quite fun and there was no time pressure to complete the activities. In the Stained Glass Room, you must cut out the shapes of the missing pieces of glass. In the Banquest Hall, you must choose different food items to place before the guards according to their special requirements (sort of like the board game, Guess Who). The Forge requires you to measure the amount of metal needed to make keys by using fractions to add the measurements.

Features:

• Math facts
• Geometry
• Fractions
• Word problems
• Telling Time
• Additional work pages if you have a printer

Technical Aspects:

Installation was very easy and the game played fine, with no choppiness or hangups. The graphics are exactly as portrayed on the box.

Report and Conclusions:

My 2nd grader likes Jumpstart 2nd grade, and liked this game as well. However, she is in the middle of the school year, and has already started on regrouping. This game will be difficult if your child is just starting the school year, and will need parental help. I even had trouble with the hard setting in the Jousting Area, and also the arcade action in the Treasury, where you had to tilt the maze different directions and get the ball in the right hole and avoid the wrong ones! One of my pet peeves is a game that supposedly teachs, but ends up punishing you because of lack of coordination or physical reflexes. But you can reset the levels to easy each time the activity is played if your child needs the easy level, which is what we are doing for the Joust, the Catapult, and also the Treasury. My advice would be for parents to play all the activities first before letting their child play, and to also show their child how to reset the difficulty levels (if needed) before they play.

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