Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Rat Dissection

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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. 

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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.

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