Alan Jay Weiner today announced the release of NextWord, the first in a series of educational games and teaching tools for Palm Powered handheld computers. NextWord encourages reading
and expands vocabulary by playing word games. Configurable to allow players of varying ability to compete fairly, playing NextWord gives practice in word recognition, correct spelling, phonics, and vocabulary building. Players naturally improve their abilities through changing words into other words.Game play is simple; each player changes a word into a new word by
changing one or more letters. The next player changes that word into another in the same manner. Players continue until they can't think of a new word. NextWord is fun and educational whether played by groups or by an individual as a solitaire game. NextWord includes a dictionary of two, three, four, and five-letter words, categorized by difficulty, and further tagged to prevent "uncomfortable" words from being the first word of the game. This prevents games from starting with words that might set off teasing or embarrassment - such as "fat" or "stupid." Users can edit the dictionary, for further customization. "NextWord grew out of a game I played with my son, who is just finishing first grade," said Alan Weiner, the designer and developer of NextWord. "We played a game where we'd change one letter of a word to make a new word. NextWord is the Palm version of this game. Watching him sound out a word, then trying different sounds within the word as he searches for a new word - it was so gratifying to see him learning. As it turned out, my third-grade daughter and her friends liked it as much as my son. Putting NextWord on a handheld permits playing it anywhere. It's a perfect use for the time you wait at a restaurant between ordering and the meal arriving. Instead of fidgeting kids and annoyed parents, you can play a game - and learn!" To allow children to compete fairly - and play against parents - NextWord allows configuring rules for each individual player: what they are allowed to do and required to do for their move. Beginners may reuse words while advanced players may not; beginners may change more letters while advanced may only change one or may be required to change two or three.

NextWord also has a logging ability to assist in reviewing progress. By logging the games and reviewing them later, parents and teachers can track what words players tried, players' attempts to reuse words or use words that aren't real, and when a player passed on their turn. The first version of NextWord is intended for family use; it remembers player rules for up to nine people. A version for schools, with additional capabilities for classroom use, is targeted for mid-summer release. NextWord provides parents and teachers a tool to assist in the critical skill of reading.

An evaluation version of NextWord is available for download. Priced at $20, NextWord is available at 25% discount
for the month of June 2002. You can download NextWord from Palmgear.



- posted by SAMMUALJAMES @ Tuesday, June 11, 2002