 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Learn Science
- Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi
- Price: $19.99
- Genre: Educational
Common Sense Media says
Below-average educational game for a narrow audience.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Learn Science is a budget educational game designed for kids in grades one through four. Players answer trivia questions, solve simple physics puzzles, and work through science-themed games. It’s not quite as overtly educational as other games in this category -- the pedagogical value of some activities is dubious -- but younger elementary school kids will likely come away having learned a thing or two about their world. Older kids will have no trouble figuring out how to play by themselves, but younger players will likely need the help of their parents to understand what to do in certain activities and read trivia questions or instructions.
What's it about?
LEARN SCIENCE provides a variety of educational games and activities in five categories: physics, colors and sounds, the human body, biology, and geography. Examples include arranging organs in a human body, directing laser lights around a stage with mirrors, and guiding a falling ball into a basket by setting up platforms and pegs. Players can choose to try these games individually or work through a “career” mode, which sees them trying a handful of new games each day. Performance statistics are kept for both individual games and the career mode. A third mode dubbed “TV Quiz” has players answering a short series of science-themed trivia questions. Regardless of mode, players can choose from three difficulty levels that are meant to roughly correlate to grades one through four.
Is it any good?
There’s no getting around this game’s mediocre production values. Text errors are especially egregious. Players can expect to encounter some strange phrasing and typos, such as a trivia question and its corresponding answers worded and punctuated as follows: “When crickets rub their wings? They?re cold. They?re happy. They chirp.”
Most of the non-trivia challenges are short and have little replay value. A few activities -- such as one that involves filling beakers with different levels of water to alter their acoustic properties to match a given melody, and another that has players flipping switches in a tangle of wires to turn on the proper appliances -- are fun to play once or twice, but not more. It’s unlikely any kids who have experienced more compelling interactive entertainment will be interested in what’s on offer here for very long. There are many much better educational games.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about how science is used both in our casual lives and our careers. Can science be fun outside of a game? Do your teachers make science enjoyable in the class?
Ask kids what they learned from this game. Have you come away with a better sense of geography, how our bodies work, or how physical laws govern our world? Do you think there’s anything the game’s makers could have improved upon?
Do you like playing educational games? Do they help make the learning fun?
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| Platforms: | Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi |
| Available online? | Not available online |
| Genre: | Educational |
| Developer: | Dreamcatcher |
| Release date: | January 2, 2011 |
| Price: | $19.99 |
| ESRB rating: | E for (No descriptors) |
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