Getting to Know Gravity

Do you know if you weigh more or less on Mars? Viewers join two kids aboard a 3-D animated spacecraft as they learn about matter, mass and gravity in this information-rich video that combines plenty of on-screen vocabulary with repetition of main points followed by immediate reviews. Using a pitcher of lemonade or ball and string for examples, the program turns semi-abstract scientific concepts into more easily grasped concrete actions. While the production values are a bit questionable--the main narrator is a boring no-personality computer screen whose voice has more distortion than clarity, and the sparse sets look noticeably cheap when intercut with the fairly good 3-D animation--the educational aims of the video are met, making this a useful physical science supplement, overall. (As for the weight question, the answer is less--approximately two-thirds less.) Recommended. Aud: E, I. (E. Gieschen)