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This is the fourth game in the educational science series based on books by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. This product is based on the book The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth and the television episode "The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top." When Arnold discovers he is missing some of the rocks and minerals from his collection, Mrs. Frizzle decides to take the class on a field trip to replace them. The group will board the bus and travel to various places around the Earth, including the Grand Canyon, inside a geode, at volcanoes on the earth and undersea, in a cavern, and at a fault to look for the replacement rocks. The interface is point and click; travel is accomplished by clicking the gear shift in the front of the bus, selecting a location and pressing the GO! button. From outside the bus, the cursor will change to a drilling bus or an airplane bus in some locations, and can be clicked to travel to another area. Areas can be visited in any order at all and returned to at any time. The bus is divided between front and back - in the back the player will find experiments to perform on rock samples, as well as a dress-up activity and a kitchen where he can investigate the effects of heat, gas, and pressure on the samples. At each of the sites, clicking on features, signs, and characters may open site-specific minigames, information and further activities as the player gathers information to track down the missing minerals. This game focuses on geology concepts with an emphasis on experiment, investigation and the scientific process. |
