Cell and Cell Structure app

Cell And Cell Structure
Created by PunFlay

About the app

Welcome to a fascinating journey to learn about cells, their structure, and function. Cell and Cell Structure is Emantras’ newest educational app that’s aimed at your middle school student. This one’s all about life’s smallest unit – the cell. Stunning graphics and in-depth content will take you right into a cell and its functions. Specifically designed for middle-school students, this app is the perfect compliment to the life-science curriculum.

So, this is what you’ll see in the app. Cell and Cell Structure comes with three main menu options once you launch the app – All About Cell, Interactive Activities, and Videos. All About Cell offers you an in-depth understanding of what cells look like when viewed up close, their structure, and functions. This section comes with each topic in a question format that the user has to tap to learn more. Once you are in the topic, you can explore further and learn in detail. The Interactive Activities section allows you to test your understanding through a quiz, word search, and flash cards. The flash cards that are part of the activities are the perfect way for students to review and retain material. Each picture comes with concise information about that part of the cell. Word search will help students refresh their memory about all the cell parts and even help them remember the spellings! The Videos section of the app takes the user right into a cell and gives a microscopic view of a cell. The visually stunning videos are sure to capture every student’s attention and turn even the most boring lesson on cells, fun!

Features

• Content compliments middle-school curriculum
• Comprehensive grade-appropriate content
• Interactive activities to review learning
• Vivid graphics (2D and 3D)
• Intuitive user interaction
• HD quality detailed videos designed in consultation with subject matter experts
• Interactive picture quiz and word search
• Interactive flashcards

Requirements

• Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.1 or later.

My Thoughts

The more I discover apps for the iPad, the more I am impressed with what we can find.   The Cell and Cell Structure is a perfect app to teach middle-school biology about cells and their structures.    This app will help your child to discover the wonderful world of cells by simply learning through videos, 3D images and clear explanations.

At this moment in time, my kids are probably too young for this particular app.  However, my ten years old has expressed the desire to become a doctor in the future so having this app will help him to understand and comprehend how cells works.   What I particularly like about this app is that it presents various cells and explains the differences between them. 

I like the presentation of the app as well.  It is very different from what I have encountered so far and I am quite impressed with the 3D images included.   Various videos are also part of the app.  These videos will explain the mitosis in animal and plant cells and will transport you inside a cell (whether animal or plant).   More videos will be included in the future as well. 

The app is very interactive and you will learn quite a bit about cells with it.   I am quite impressed with all the images included in this app.   As I am writing this I have the Cell Theory page under my eyes and I can see the various components of the cells.   The one from the human cell is particularly explicit and I recognize the various parts we have learned from our lessons last year about the human body.   Quite interesting to see them in bright color and so well designed.   I also like the comparison between the eukaryotic versus the prokaryotic cells.    Though the sounds is a bit annoying, I love to see their differences with only one glance.  And the way they have designed the Venn diagram is quite original too!   At first you see the information in two circles but if you merge the two circles together, the information is reorganized to show which parts are similar between the plant cell and animal cell.   It is well done!

Also included in this app are flash cards for revision, a word search as well as a quiz to test their knowledge.

In conclusion, the Cell and Cell Structure app is a great addition for your homeschool apps.   Your student will learn quite a bit about cells and will more than likely know more than other biology students on them.   And right now, the Cell and Cell Structure app is available for purchase at iTunes for the price of 1.99$ (which is an introductory price since the regular price would be 3.99$).

Disclaimer: I received the product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Rat Dissection

Rat Dissection app
Created by Punflay

About the App

Punflay introduces another dissection app - Rat Dissection for the iPad.

Back by popular demand, Punflay is adding another dissection app to its existing line-up of educational iPad apps. This time, students can experience a virtual dissection of a rat. Just like the award-winning app, Frog Dissection, Rat Dissection for the iPad has been designed for middle and high school students. The content for the app has been validated by subject matter experts to ensure accuracy. It’s a great substitute for the real thing and will fit perfectly in the science curriculum.

Educators and students will find this very green app a blessing in the classroom. Users can get a feel for dissecting a rat on the iPad without ever inflicting any harm on the animal. The app walks you through a series of steps on how to dissect a rat. All you have to do is to simply follow the written instructions along with voice-over to dissect and explore the rat’s internal organs. Besides a virtual chloroformed specimen, Rat Dissection comes with all the dissection tools. The organs are all presented as 3D images. Users can tap on the individual organs to see what they look like from different angles. Detailed information on the organs is provided to help the student learn about their structure and function.

Key Features:
•Vivid 3D images of rat’s internal organs
•Step-by-step instructions with voice over
•Accurate simulation of the wet lab dissection procedure
•Content validation by subject matter experts

My Thoughts

Let me precise something before I start.   I am NOT morbid.   I loved my biology courses when I was in high school and didn’t mind dissecting whatever I was presented.  Knowing this, I was super excited when I had the opportunity of reviewing the Frog Dissection app last month.    More recently I was offered to review the new Rat Dissection app.

I sat down on bright morning with my two youngest who are 3 and 5 years old.   I don’t recall what the older kids were doing but they were busy.   I opened up the Rat dissection app to check it out and the younger two sat down next to me.  

In a nutshell, this app is working the same way has the Frog dissection one.  The student has the opportunity to dissect a rat without the odors and the cleanup to do afterward.   I know many moms in the homeschool community who would love this particular fact.    Nevertheless, I personally find that there is nothing like a live experience.  But not having a rat in hands (even though I know some people who has rats as pets but I doubt they would appreciate it if I dissect them *grin*.), this app is the next best thing for your student who loves biology and wants to discover more about the anatomy of this little animal.  

My two youngest kids were following the instructions and were able to dissect the rat no problem.   They loved it.    Mmmm!   Future biologists maybe?  

Personally, I appreciate the fact that the rat is white as snow rather than being grey or brown.    Somehow, seeing it white makes me think that it is cleaner…  

After having dissecting the rat, you can read more information about the various body parts like the heart for example.   These organs are in 3D and you have the opportunity to twist them around to observe them properly.  Once again I am in awe of the precision and details of this dissection app.    It is well thought and well done.    The quality is present in every aspects from the dissection to the visualization of the organs. 

This app doesn’t have as many features as the Frog Dissection one but keep in mind that it has just been released.  In fact, on the website it is telling you to watch for updates as they will adding more features to the app to make it a more comprehensive teaching tool.   I even emailed my contact to discover if more features will be added and I got a positive answer on this.    

Punflay has developed wonderful apps for the biology lessons you can have in your homeschool.  I strongly suggest that you take the time to discover them.   And keep an eye for new apps in the future.    I wouldn’t be surprised that other fun dissecting apps will be coming soon…

Rat dissection is available for 3.99$ on iTunes.

Disclaimer: I received the app for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.