Microsoft has been busy of late. Not only has the company updated its digital imaging and personal finance packages, but it has now turned its attentions to the classroom. Microsoft's Student 2006 provides 'learning essentials' lets students get to the heart of an assignment by customising the company's Office suite to meet their unique needs, such as by providing toolbars, templates and tutorials to help teens with a variety of subjects and assignments.

According to a recent independent survey commissioned by Microsoft in the US, UK, France and Germany, 71 per cent of parents with 12- to 18-year-olds consider themselves unprepared to help their children with homework, citing insufficient knowledge and a lack of resources as the primary areas of frustration. Perhaps this is why more than half of the parents interviewed said homework is a source of tension in their household!

Based on Excel, PowerPoint and Word, Student 2006 is a subject-specific productivity software product designed to help middle- and high-school students complete homework assignments. With curriculum-based templates and tutorials, graphing calculator software (visualise and understand difficult math and science concepts through two- and three-dimensional graphing capabilities), Internet tools, and trusted digital reference content, Student 2006 promises to give students the resources they need to effectively and efficiently tackle homework assignments.

'We know parents aren't always able to act as teacher and tutor, particularly as children get older and homework becomes more complex,' said Karla Tharin, senior product manager with the Education Products Group at Microsoft. 'Microsoft Student addresses this common frustration by providing the tools students need to get their homework done successfully in a variety of subjects, from history and foreign language to calculus and chemistry.'

Additional features include Book Summaries that deliver facts and insights to help kids understand and appreciate classic works of literature, Online Math Homework Help to provide step-by-step instructions and hints for solving math problems, and trusted content from Microsoft's Encarta Interactive World Atlas.

BIOS, Jul 07, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Educational