Company: Discovery Channel School, P.O. Box 6027, Florence, KY 41022; Phone: 888/892-3484; Fax: 859/727-8918; Web site: http://www.discoveryschool.com/.

Price: $100--single copy, includes VHS tape, Mac/Win hybrid CD-ROM, 30-pack set of student worksheets, and a Teacher's Guide. $600--network version.

Audience: Grades 3-6.

Format: VHS videotape. CD-ROM: video clips, text, audio, animation.

Minimum System Requirements: Macintosh systems: Power PC, 200 MHz, 16 MB RAM, Mac OS 8, 640 x 489 resolution, 16-bit color, 4x CD-ROM drive. QuickTime 5.0 can be installed from the CD-ROM.

Windows systems: Pentium 200 MHz processor, 16 MB RAM, Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000, 640 x 489 resolution, 16-bit color, Windows-compatible audio board with speakers, 4x CD-ROM drive. QuickTime 5.0 can be installed from the CD-ROM.

Descriptiom Discovery Channel School: Bacteria, Viruses, and Allergies is a multimedia Learning Pack that includes a videotape, CD-ROM, class pack of student worksheets, online resources, and a teacher's guide related to the topic of bacteria, viruses, and allergies.

Reviewer Comments: Installation: I used this title on a Power Mac G4 computer running system 9.0.4. Installation was simple and quick. Installation Rating: A

Content/Features: This Learning Pack focuses on the human immune system through three distinct scenarios: salmonella bacteria from chicken passing from host to host, a flu virus on its journey through a human body, and varying types of allergic reactions.

The videotape features three 7-minute segments--Bacteria, Allergies, and Viruses--that are also available for viewing on the CD-ROM. Supplementary class activities are provided at the end of each segment. These video segments are quite graphic and are more appropriate for mature learners.

The CD-ROM consists of four sections: Theater, Library, Discovery Center, and Studio.

The Theater contains QuickTime videos corresponding to the videotape segments. The Library contains articles that can be read independently by students at higher reading levels, as well as narration for English as Second Language students and struggling readers. All of the articles may be printed.

The Discovery Center consists of seven self-contained exercises for practice, extension, and assessment. These include Brain Teasers, EyeWitness (writing activities), Circle Logic (using Venn Diagrams), Investigations (using patterns in the data), Categories (to determine characteristics), Puzzles (with social studies titles), Can You Relate (to describe relationships between two events), and What If (to extend the ideas in the Discovery Theater). …