[Note that I have only seen an animated walkthrough of this program (less than a demo)]

This module from the Logal Explorer series lets you view and perform experiments on the cardiovascular system of a human. On the screen you see a beating heart with veins and arteries attatched to it, and a little packet of blood flowing around and around. You can put a sensor at any point along these blood vessels and get graphs of pressure, oxygen, or CO2 levels over time, as well as viewing ECG's and a couple other variables. You can also do things to the system such as harden or block the blood vessels, add or take away blood, and add neurotransmitters.

While I only saw an animation of the program in action, and so can't give a real evaluation, if the program lives up to its promise then it should be useful. Students are able to manipulate the heart and blood vessels in ways that will be familiar to them (ie - hardened arteries) and visually see the effects. Placing sensors anywhere in the system is a nice way to demonstrate how different variables are changing, and again seeing the sensor on the animated picture of the system makes it nice and visual. The graphics themselves are quite polished, with good use of color to distinguish different parts of the anatomy. Without actually trying the program, its hard to say whether the user-interface is any good, but from the demo it has promise. There are better, more complicated, programs for use in more advanced classes, but for an introductory level class, this program should work quite nicely.

Computer: Macintosh, Windows

Source: Logal

Cost: High

Last update 22nd of January 1996