Computer Curriculum Corp. launches new curriculum project on its educational World Wide Web site; Award-winning Internet site adds "Shapes Around the World," an innovative mathematics & cultural project that tracks student progress.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 1996--Computer Curriculum Corp. (CCC), a leading publisher of educational software for the K-12 market, today announced its second major Internet education project, Shapes Around the World, a collaborative curriculum-based lesson that explores geometric shapes and patterns.

Shapes Around the World, which is based on national education standards, is part of CCCnet (http://www.cccnet.com), the first World Wide Web site to provide interactive online curriculum to schools nationwide. Shapes Around the World is the first online educational project to track student progress.

Shapes Around the World is interdisciplinary, combining a focus on geometric shapes with an awareness of how they relate to real-world objects in culture and geography. The geometry project, which is designed for middle school students grades six through nine, uses upbeat graphics to engage and keep the attention of media-savvy students.

In the two and a half months since CCCnet's unveiling, more than 600 educators already have become members. In addition, industry magazine, The Net, awarded CCCnet Site of the Month, describing CCCnet as "one of the most innovative Web accomplishments" to date.

"Shapes Around the World utilizes the Internet the way so many people have envisioned -- it's collaborative, multimedia-rich, and it allows students to learn about places around the world," said Lori McBride, CCC vice president of New Media Markets.

"Receiving the Site of the Month honor by a publication closely tracking thousands of Web sites is rewarding and recognizes CCCnet as an innovative and valuable resource."

"Teachers nationwide have told us that it's not enough to get hooked up to the Internet. They need a structure to use the Internet's resources and they want real educational solutions," McBride added. "With CCCnet and Shapes Around the World, we're doing something that has never been done before, and the initial feedback we're getting from educators is phenomenal."

Consistent with its approach and philosophy for K-12 comprehensive courseware, CCC has included an assessment component in Shapes Around the World. As students participate in the geometry project, CCC tracks their work with user identifications and database technology, enabling students to view their own progress at any given time.

Collaborating to Discover Geometry

When teachers enroll their classes in the Shapes Around the World project, they are teamed up with other participating classes. The students go on a "Geometry Adventure" and at the end they discover their hidden "GeoShape."

Their GeoShape is then combined with the GeoShapes of the four other classes in their group to form "The Big Picture," which is then displayed in CCCnet's "Hall of Shapes." Each of these Big Pictures is culturally-based, including images from Asia, the Americas, Europe and Africa.

Other areas of Shapes Around the World include "Talk Shapes!," where students participate in an online dialogue to facilitate the completion of their projects, and the "Geometry Challenge," where students test their knowledge of the shapes they've been studying.

Essential to the completion of the project is the gathering of information from other Web sites and collaborating with other students nationwide.

CCCnet Lesson Structure and Future Projects

As with all of CCCnet's online projects, a detailed lesson plan is included. These lesson plans, which can be read online or printed out, summarize objectives, time required, national education standards met by the project, teacher preparation, and recommended additional activities and related resources.

In the preparation section, the lesson plan addresses options for using the curriculum based on various computer set-ups: for example, how to implement the Shapes Around the World project in a computer lab environment vs. the classroom.

CCC will continually publish new curriculum-based projects every two to three months on CCCnet. Shapes Around the World is scheduled to begin running April 15. The curriculum project area of CCCnet is currently free, but will be subscription-based later this year. CCCnet is designed for school and home use.

CCCnet's first project, Energy Flow in Amazonia, will continue to be available, in addition to the new project.

The Company

Computer Curriculum Corporation, one of the fastest growing units of Simon & Schuster, is a leading publisher of educational software for the K-12 market. By combining its comprehensive courseware with a powerful management system, CCC enables teachers to not only create an engaging learning environment, but establish individualized learning paths, assess progress and measure results against appropriate standards.

CCC's software is installed in more than 8,000 schools and is used by more than 1.5 million students worldwide. CCC is committed to providing community-wide learning environments and has recently begun delivering educational content over the World Wide Web and creating a school-to-home link. CCC can be found on the Internet at http://www.cccnet.com.

Simon & Schuster, the world's largest educational publisher, is the publishing operation of Viacom Inc. Viacom is one of the world's largest entertainment and publishing companies and a leading force in nearly every segment of the international media marketplace. -0-

Note to Editors: Computer Curriculum Corporation, the Computer Curriculum Corporation logo and SuccessMaker are registered trademarks of Computer Curriculum Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Computer Curriculum Corporation

Lorraine Rossini, 408/541-3951

[e-mail]

or

Brodeur & Partners

Barbara Kohn, 408/327-0470

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