Instructions: Perform a comprehensive edit. In your edit, recommend headings, lists,
graphics, and tables to improve the overall look and readability of this report. If you see
comprehensive-edit problems, being them to the authors’ attention. The audience of this
letter are the kindergartener’s parents. If you see discussion that may be unclear for
these readers, include a note to the authors or suggest revisions if you can.
Recomendation Report on the Purchase of Kindergarten
Software
Years ago, children learned using pencils and paper. In this era dominated by technology,
education tools have evolved into the world of computers. While the old fashioned way
of learning still exists and is indispensable researchers, educators, teachers and parents
alike have to explore new ways to stimulate learning [1]. For early learners in particular
learning has to be fun so that children do not spend all their time in front of the television
[2], video game stations, and other action packed play activities. Thanks to the designers
and developers of childrens computer software. The introduction of these products
stimulate and motivate young children to get exited about learning, hence they have a
good start of a life long education process. Today, a number of kindergarten software
products are available in the storesboth online and physical. A parent can be quite
confused to which product they should choose for their children. This report compares
three software products on building basic and comprehensive skills for kindergarteners.
The intention is to present parents who are concerned about learning of their young
children with a clearer picture of what some of the popular kindergarten software can
offer.
Options for Kindergarten Software
Three relatively more popular kindergarten software were chosen for this report for
comparison: JumpStart Kindergarten, Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten, and Dr. Seuss
Kindergarten.
Requirements For Purchasing Kindergarten Software
In the process of deciding which educational kindergarten product to buy, there are a few
requirements:

Operating system


The software must run well using a PC running Windows 95 with average system
capacity.

The price must be affordable.

Price

Ease of use

Entertainment

Progress checking




The product’s educational value must be high – providing a lot of skill training.
The software must be easy to use.
The product’s content must be entertaining.
The software must provide progress checking.
Points Of Comparison
While all three software products are educational for kindergarteners each one has it’s
different strenths and weaknesses.
The following compares these products in terms of the following: (1) system
requirement, (2) price, (3) ease of use, (4) educational value, (5) degree of entertainment,
(6) repetition, and (7) progress checking.
System requirement. All three software run on PC with Windows 95. Both Dr. Seuss
Kindergarten and Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten requires a 486 CPU running at 66 MHz.
JumpStart Kindergarten requires a 486 CPU running at 25 MHz, which a lower
requirement. Both Dr. Seuss Kindergarten and Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten require
16M RAM while JumpStart Kindergarten requires 8M RAM, again a lower requirement.
All three of them need SVGA with 256 colors or more, a 2X CDROM drive, and a
Window compatible sound card.
Price. Both JumpStart and Dr Seuss Kindergarten have a list price of $19.99. Reader
Rabbits Kindergarten has a list price of $28.99. So other than Reader Rabbits
Kindergarten, either of the other two products is a good choice.
Ease of use. Both Reader Rabbit’s and Dr Seuss Kindergarten have a storyline
throughout the program, and provide a smoothe connection [3, 4]. Children find them
friendly and easy to make decision for the activity to choose. JumpStart Kindergarten
provides many choices of activities but has no storyline, so children have to make more
decision. Reader Rabbit’s and Dr Seuss Kindergarten are relatively easier to use then
JumpStart kindergarten.
Educational Value. Other than basic kindergarten level trainingalphabets, numbers,
pattern matching, rhymes, time, measurement, music, and the like, Dr Suess Kindergarten
does not provide other extra training, such as, activities involving critical thinking skills.
Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten includes get your bearing which trains direction and mapreading skills; stop and think which trains social coincidence. JumpStart Kindergarten
includes Hide and Seek which trains listening and deductive thinking skills.
Degree of entertainment. Reader Rabbit’s program focuses around a story theme –
collecting items for a camp. It is filled with fun animal characters. Its music can also be
played alone with an audio player. Dr Seuss also has a storyline behind it – going around
the zoo. It is packed with the famous Dr. Seuss characters. JumpStart provides plenty of
activities, however there is no single story theme. Children tend to love stories and fun or
familiar characters, so Reader Rabbit’s and Dr Seuss Kindergarten are preferred over
JumpStart Kindergarten.
Repetition. To play Dr Seuss or Reader Rabbit’s kindergarten software, a child needs to
have some patience. At times, they need to wait until some songs are sung, or some
words are spoken before they can start clicking the mouse button to start some activities.
That is a tradeoff for the entertaining storyline. JumpStart does not have that problem.
Therefore, for the patient, JumpStart is a good one.
Table 1. System requirement for different kindergarten software products
CPU
JumpStart
Kindergarten
486/25
Hard drive space
(Mbyte)
5
RAM
(Mbyte)
8
CD ROM
Sound card
2X
Graphics
card
SVGA 256
Dr Seuss
Kindergarten
486/66
20
16
2X
SVGA 256
Windows
compatible
Reader Rabbit’s
Kindergarten
486/66
10
16
2X
SVGA 256
Windows
compatible
Windows
compatible
Checking progress. Both JumpStart and Dr Seuss provide progress reports for the parent
and the child to check where they are and how they are doing in terms of mastering skills
associated with the activities. Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten does not provide that kind of
report. However, it rewards a players achievement by providing some entertaining shows
such as a little musical. Overall, all three software acknowlege achievement. Thus, in
terms of educational value, JumpStart and Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten are good
choices.
Summary
Each of the kindergarten software has its own strong and week points. The following is a
summary of the comparison,
1. JumpStart Kindergarten has the lowest system requirement. In other words, more
people can run the software with their home computers.
2. JumpStart and Dr Seuss both have affordable price.
3. Reader Rabbit’s and Dr Seuss Kindergarten are relatively easy to use than JumpStart.
4. Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten and JumpStart both have very high educational value.
Dr Seuss is comparatively simpler.
5. Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten and Dr Seuss both have a high degree of entertainment
by weaving a story throughout the software.
6. JumpStart is less repetitive, hence better for the impatient.
7. Both JumpStart and Dr Seuss provide a progress report to track player’s mastery of
skill. Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten rewards player’s achievement with entertainment.
Overall, JumpStart lacks an amusing storyline which is essential for young children. Dr
Seuss lags behind in high educational value. Even though Reader Rabbit’s has a higher
list price, there are always some stores out there to offer a good bargain price at certain
times. Its system requirement is a little higher compared with JumpStart, but these days,
most families can easily afford a computer with reasonably good system capacity. Reader
Rabbit’s Kindergarten does not provide the progress checking feature, but it rewards
players’ achievement so they know how well they are mastering the skills.
Recommendation
Based on the comparisons, I recommend Reader Rabbit’s Kindergarten as one of the best
educational tools for kindergarteners. It is highly educational, entertaining, easy to use,
and reasonably priced with a little shopping effort.
Sources Cited
1. Azar, Beth. “Research-based games enhance children’s learning.” APA Online.
http://www.apa.org/ (12 April 2002).
2. Palmer, Elizabeth. "Too Much TV? Setting limits on television viewing." Children
Today. http://childrentoday.com/resources/articles/settvlimits.htm (12 April 2002).
3. R & R Wholesale. “Reader Rabbit Kindergarten.”
http://www.rrcd.com/products/readerrabbitkindergarten.html (14 April 2002).
4. Velgos, Tina. “the review zone.” http://www.thereviewzone.com/drseusskinder.html
(15 April 2002).