User s Guide Children's Technology Review Editor's Choice Award a straightforward and effective way to practice geography... If you are looking for clean, affordable geography practice, this is a good choice. September 2008. or 4.5 Integrating Technology into Classroom Teaching Our software features in the 6th Edition of Computer Education for Teachers: Integrating Technology into Classroom Teaching. It is a terrific program! I wish I had it when I was growing up. Vicki Sharp Ph.D., author of Computer Education for Teachers. Another worthy Top of the Class award. May 2009, Simon Lewis. As featured in their Back to School technology special. "helps kids learn geography through games, tutorials, timed quizzes and even a virtual jigsaw puzzle. The E-Report, The Wall Street Journal Podcast "A very neat tool... teaches kids about US cities, states and geography." September 2008, Tom Dziubek and Paul Herrmann.
Table of Contents Table of Contents Minimum System Requirements and Support Install Areas of Welcome to Main Menus Study Your USA Quiz Your USA Examine Your USA Puzzle of USA User Tracking and Results Preferences Desktop Wallpaper and Screensaver Site License Admin Control Panel (School Edition Only) - User Progress & Management - Options & Edit Features and Audio - Custom Quiz & Worksheets Copyright & Legal Credits 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 11 14 16 18 19 20 21 22 27 28 2 Table of Contents
System Requirements and Support Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista or Windows 7 Processor: Pentium III/IV 1.0 GHz or better Dual Core recommended for Windows Vista or 7 Memory (RAM): 256 MB RAM 1GB RAM Recommended Getting Technical Support: If you experience problems using or installing Know Your USA please visit the help section of our website, www.edwarelearning.com and check if you can find the solution the, if not please e-mail us. Contact us by e-mail for any questions or comments, info@edwarelearning.com Feedback: If you have any suggestions about you can share them with us by visiting our website. Display: SVGA (800 x 600 Resolution) XGA (1024 x 768 Resolution) Recommended Millions of Colors Contact: Web: Email: www.edwarelearning.com info@edwarelearning.com Other: 100 MB Free Hard Disk Space CD-Rom Drive, if install from CD Broadband Connection, for online content System Requirements and Support 3
Setup Installing From CD-ROM: Insert the CD-ROM, the setup application will automatically start. To install on your Windows computer click the install button, this will then guide you through the setup procedure. Once has been installed a desktop icon will be created. will also be located in the Windows Start Menu under Programs. After installing please view the Readme.txt file for the latest product information and release notes. Installing from Internet Download: Download the zipped setup file from our website. Once downloaded, unzip the file (Windows XP, Vista & 7, right click and click Extract All) for earlier versions of Windows you will need to use WinZip or WinRAR, both available online. Once unzipped double click to launch the installation and follow the procedure. Once has been installed a desktop icon will be created. will also be located in Start Menu > Programs. The download edition needs to be activated, to activate please purchase the software from our website, you can purchase the Home or School Edition. The software key is then e-mailed to you with details of how to activate. 4 Setup
Areas of The Study Section is a valuable reference area and is ideal for the user to study and revise each area of the United States. Detailed information on each feature is provided. This section enables the user to have a clear understanding of the geography of the United States and its features before proceeding to the Quiz and Examine sections. Study Your USA Quiz Your USA The Quiz Section presents users with a guided approach to learning, a point and click style quiz. If the user makes a mistake they are given a hint, if they make another error the correct answer is shown. This independent learning enables the user to learn from their own mistakes and continue with the learning process in confidence. In the Examine Section of the user is presented with an exam of all the topics. This tests the knowledge the user has acquired so far. This section requests the user to type in the answer, so they also need to know the correct spelling of each feature. An optional spelling drawer is also available to aid the user. Examine Your USA Other Features Many More Features are also included throughout including a fantastic puzzle of all the US states, printable worksheets, audio narration, user progress tracking and monitoring and much more. School Edition also includes advance features designed for schools. Areas of 5
Welcome to User Login great for keeping track of your progress. Once you create an account, you can login. Play this is great for a quick game and does not keep any record of your progress. Also ideal for group work with a projector or digital white board. Exit this will exit the game, a confirmation window will appear to confirm exit. About displays details about, license type and version number. Upgrade to the site license from here too. Help displays brief help on each section. Preferences many options can be set and changed for Know Your USA, see corresponding page in this guide for further information. Welcome to 6
: Menu Previous Menu will return to the Introduction menu. Study Your USA will take you to the Study Section. Quiz Your USA will take you to the Quiz Section. Examine Your USA will take you to the Examine Section. Puzzle of USA will take you to the Puzzle of the US states. Menu Button is used for returning to the previous menu and is located in the same position throughout. 7 : Menu
Study Your USA Return to Main Menu this will bring you back to the Main Menu. About USA a brief introduction to the USA with statistics and satellite images. Study Topic from here you can select the area of USA you wish to study. Main Menu Button will return you to the main menu. Log Out this will exit the game, a confirmation window will appear to confirm exit. Sound mutes in the audio throughout Help display help for this section. 8 Study Your USA
Study Your USA About the USA, this is a great area to become familiar with the United States before going forward. View Time Zones will display each time zone of the United States. Study Section, this area of is a valuable reference area and is ideal for the user to study and revise each area of the USA. This section enables the user to have a clear understanding of the features of the USA before proceeding to the Quiz and Examine sections. Exit this will exit the game, a confirmation window will appear to confirm. Wikipedia this is a link to the website Wikipedia about the United States. Study Menu clicking this will return to the previous menu. Study Your USA 9
Study Your USA Washington DC, this is the Study Section of State Capitals. Once Washington DC is clicked on the map further information and facts about the city is presented. Texas State, this is the Study Section of the US States. Once the state is clicked, further information including flag and detailed map of each state is presented. Opens the Wikipedia website in a web browser and displays details about the current feature. Washington DC this will show a detailed map of the city. Photo if there is a photo of the feature available a camera icon will be displayed. Click the feature name to repeat the audio. 10 Study Your USA
Quiz Your USA Go to Main Menu this will return you to the Main Menu. Start or Quick Fire select if you want to do a quick fire quiz which only asks 12 questions or be asked all features. Quiz Topics from here you can select the area of the USA you wish to have a quiz on. Main Menu Button will return you to the main menu. Exit this will exit the game, a confirmation window will appear to confirm exit. Sound mutes in the audio throughout Help display help for this section. Quiz Your USA 11
Quiz Your USA Quiz Section, each topic of this section uses our unique three step learning process. Step One, the user is asked to clicked on the state of Texas. Step Two, the user has clicked on the incorrect answer, they are shown a hint and what they clicked. 12 Quiz Your USA Timer is also included so you can keep track of your speed. Click the feature name to hear the audio narration repeated. Hint is shown to help the user. The name of the incorrect state the user clicked on is shown.
Quiz Your USA Step Three, the user answers incorrectly for a third time, the correct answer is show in blue. Click on the correct answer to continue to the next question. Quiz Your USA 13
Examine Your USA Go to Main Menu this will return you to the Main Menu. Start or Quick Fire select if you want to do a quick fire quiz which only asks 12 questions or be asked all features. Examine Topic from here you can select the area of the USA you wish to examine. Main Menu Button will return you to the main menu. Log Out this will exit the game, a confirmation window will appear to confirm exit. Sound mutes in the audio throughout Help display help for this section. 14 Examine Your USA
Examine Your USA Examine Section, an exam of all topics, the user is asked to enter the correct answer and spellings. Rivers Section, the user is asked to enter the name of the river highlighted. Lakes Section, the user is asked to enter the name of the lake highlighted. Here the user enters the answer with correct spelling. Optional Spelling Drawer shows correct spellings for each feature. When the answer is entered, click the Next Question button to continue to the next question. Examine Your USA 15
Puzzle of USA Puzzle of USA, an excellent virtual jigsaw puzzle of all the states of the United States. Jigsaw Puzzle (with state guides), you can play with or without the state borders displayed. The fastest complete time is displayed. Try and beat your best time. 16 Puzzle of USA Select either Flip or Spread Puzzle to play.
Puzzle of USA Puzzle of USA, an excellent virtual jigsaw puzzle of all the states of the USA. Flip Puzzle (without state guides), flip through each state until you find the piece you want to place. Spread Puzzle (with state guides), each piece is spread around the screen, and must be dragged to the correct location. Scroll through each state by clicking on the arrows. Try and beat your best time. Each piece can be picked up and drag by a click of the mouse. Puzzle of USA 17
User Tracking and Results Results, on completing either a Quiz or Exam topic the user can view their results. Quick Progress, this allows the user to view their progress at any time. 18 User Tracking and Results
Preferences Preferences, from here the user can make minor changes. Further preferences are available in the School Edition, see page 21 for further details. Load desktop themes. Enable or disable some of the options in. Load all the features from in Google Earth. This will delete all user accounts. Show resolution dialogue at start-up, only for users using 800 x 600 resolution or below. Preferences 19
Desktop Themes & Screensaver Desktop Themes, you can install beautiful photos as your desktop wallpaper or screensaver. Download edition of may require an additional download for screensaver. Click any of the images to install the desktop wallpaper. Load the screensaver setup program. This will display the Microsoft Windows Desktop Properties. 20 Desktop Themes & Screensaver
School Edition Administrator Control Panel: The home edition of is not licensed to be used in schools. We recommend that schools upgrade to the School Edition of which includes many advance features designed specifically for school use. Please purchase suitable license for your school or organisation, depending on number of pupils or size of school. We have developed special features for the School Edition that gives teachers and administrations more control over our software. Some of the benefits of the School Edition include access to the advance Control Panel which provides extra features including: Custom Quizzes, Advance User Progress Tracking, Printable Users Progress, Custom User Groups, User Management & Editing, Edit Feature Names and Hints, Change Question Options and Print Worksheets with ease. Upgrading to School License: If you have purchased a School license and have received your unique 38 digit software key you can enter it by clicking on the Upgrade button from the About window of. How to purchase a Site License: Please contact us at www.edwarelearning.com / info@edwarelearning.com for further details of how to order a School Edition Site License and we will forward you on details of your local agent. School Edition 21
Admin Control Panel School Edition Only Control Panel, the School Edition of has an advance control panel which gives teachers and administrators greater control of including custom quizzes, user progress tracking, advance user management, edit feature names and much more. Control Panel options offer more control for teachers, group leaders or administrators. 22 Admin Control Panel
Admin Control Panel School Edition Only User Progress, the administrator can check the progress of each user and view their score. User Management, the administrator can add and delete users, assign them to groups, rename and upload user lists and more. Check progress of each user, or the scoreboard for each topic. Print a report of the users progress. Click any score to get detailed results. Return to the Control Panel main menu. Admin Control Panel 23
Admin Control Panel School Edition Only Options, the administrator can change options of our software. A password for the Control Panel can also be enabled. Edit Features, the administrator can alter all feature names, hints and audio. Audio recording requires 3rd party software. Edit question options to better suit the user. 24 Admin Control Panel Load Google Earth places to view all features from in Google Earth. Set an admin password for Control Panel to prevent students from logging in. Resets all features to their defaults.
Admin Control Panel School Edition Only Custom Quiz, the administrator can create custom quizzes which zone in on certain feature. Print Worksheets, print worksheets with ease, ideal for group work or home exercises. Select the topic you wish to edit. Tick or Untick the features to include in the custom quiz. Once you have created your custom quiz, click Save. Admin Control Panel 25
Admin Control Panel School Edition Only Printable Worksheets (PDF), included are a series of printable worksheets for each topic, great for additional non-computer learning. State Capitals Worksheet States Worksheet (with spellings) The spellings are also shown so the user can learn the correct spelling of each feature. You can also print worksheets without the feature names/spellings shown. 26 Admin Control Panel
Copyright & Legal Copyright 2007-2009 Luke M. Curley Photos copyright their respective owners. This software is the property of Luke M. Curley and it licensors and is protected by copyright law. The copyright and intellectual property rights of this software and its documentation are owned by Luke M. Curley, and are protected by the copyright laws of The Republic of Ireland, United States and international intellectual property right treaties. Any reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. All copying of the Software is expressly forbidden. Icons used were created by Eugen Buzuk from www.icondrawer.com Stock photos courtesy of www.istockphoto.com, www.bigstockphotos.com, www.canstockphoto.com and other resources. Satellite images of USA courtesy of NASA http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov Company names or products mentioned in this document or our software maybe the trademarks of others companies, all other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respected owners. Copyright & Legal 27
Credits Copyright 2007-2009 Luke M. Curley Developed by: Audio Narration: Thanks to: Luke M Curley Sarah Lane All those who helped to make this fantastic educational title. Other company names or products mentioned in this document or our software maybe the trademarks of others. 28 Credits
Enjoy! Enjoy using Enjoy! 29