This program, produced by major educational publishers, shows how important microcomputers are to be in schools in the near future. The aims of the program are quite wide - learning concepts of space, direction, estimation, number and angle - and it does go some way towards fostering all of them.

The child (or children) has to steer a number of sheep through a gate by commanding a sheepdog to move towards or away from them, crouching or standing. The sheep don't often move in a straight line, which is true to life at least, and if they hit the fence you must start again.

The game works well and is well error-trapped, so young fingers cannot do too much harm but it is extremely repetitive. The only options are the number of sheep and type of control: either the cursor keys or the points of the compass (cardinal and half-cardinal).

The documentation is excellent and an object lesson to other educational program producers. There are even four workcards for the pupils to use.

D.C.