''The Search Series'' is a five-game series of educational video games by

Tom Snyder Productions Soup2Nuts (sometimes referred to as Soup2Nuts Studios, and formerly part of Tom Snyder Productions) was an American animation studio founded by Tom Snyder. The studio is known for its animated comedy series, its use of Squigglevision, a techniqu ...

and published by

McGraw-Hill Education McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

in 1980. It runs on either

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...

Models I and III.

Development

In the late 1970s, Snyder had bought a TRS-80 computer and began designing educational simulations on it. He hired a consultant for $500 a day to observe whether his creations had value. The consultant saw something special and won Snyder a contract

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

, who bought all five packages immediately, forming The Search Series. Snyder went on the road in 1981 to promote the series.

Educational goals

The series exemplified Snyder's philosophy of keeping learning in the foreground of the gaming experience and encouraging players (recommended within the classroom) to work together in teams. The content was specifically designed to connect with curricula. An example of the series is Geography Search, which simulates Christopher Columbus's discovery of the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

. Teams make navigational decisions based on information that is provided by and managed from the software.

Gameplay

Players are given scenarios, then (ideally) divide up into teams to choose the next move their defending their position. They input their decisions into the simulation which then triggers the next stage.

Titles

* ''Geography Search'' * ''Geology Search'' * ''Energy Search'' * ''Community Search'' * ''Archaeology Search''

Reception

''Educational Values and Cognitive Instruction'' felt ''Geography Search'' was an excellent example of a computer-based situated learning environment based on a microworld. InfoWorld was impressed with the software, and deemed them a great way to explore simulations. In a piece for

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

, Henry F. Olds believed that the series had great power to stimulate students' thinking and problem-solving. ''Diagnostic Monitoring of Skill and Knowledge Acquisition'' felt that ''Geography Search'' was the "most ingenious" computer-based system for teaching history. The book ''Building Intelligent Interactive Tutors'' felt that as an open-ended learning environment (OLE), the software did not interact directly with the player and help them to manage the environment. ''

Compute!'s Gazette ''Compute!'s Gazette'' (), stylized as ''COMPUTE!'s Gazette'', was a computer magazine of the 1980s, directed at users of Commodore's 8-bit home computers. Announced as ''The Commodore Gazette'', it was a Commodore-only daughter magazine of the ...

'' noted that the series was still selling well four years after its release.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Search Series 1980 video games Apple II games Children's educational video games TRS-80 games Video games developed in the United States