In this interactive adventure , students learn facts about machines, spatial relations, logic, and safety. The program has a set of 12 activities all related to big jobs like running a farm, constructing buildings, and fighting fires. Students punch a time clock that keeps track of their games, and then they go to a clubhouse and select animations, videos, games, or a job activity by clicking on toys and gadgets that appear on the screen. One activity is a 3-D driving simulation, complete with four speeds and a radio.
Students use the mouse to steer the vehicle.
Along the way, they can pull off the road to watch movies of machinery in action, to fill up with gas, and to play games. In another activity, students must navigate through a burning building. Students must plan and use strategy to decide on the most direct path from the fire hydrant to the fire, and they must remember to pick up a fire ax to break down the door. Another activity taps logical thinking skills by requiring students to strategically open and close gates of a corral to herd certain types of animals into a barn. The Big Job Sim Site lets students build simple towns, farms, or construction sites by placing roads and buildings on an empty plot of land.