Review of Dinosaurs: American Museum of Natural History Collections

Name of App: Dinosaurs

Grade: 3rd-6th

Free or Fee: FREE!

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Company: American Museum of Natural History, http://www.amnh.org/apps/dino.php

Why I like it: This is a fun and informational app. The main screen is a mosaic of hundreds of small pictures/photos that make up the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. There is a helpful pop-up screen that appears when you open the app with directions on how to zoom in on specific pictures. Once you zoom in on a specific picture you can find more information regarding what the picture is, who took the picture, where the picture was taken, and general information related to the picture. This app also has a section of "stories" for different dinosaurs. This section is fairly limited at this time, but with research I found that they plan to add several more dinosaurs. With this app you can also email pictures to a friend or comment on a picture. The pictures are great on the iTouch, but would be even better on the larger screen provided by the iPad. It is a great app for students just learning about dinosaurs, but the pictures could also be used as writing prompts or a fun way for older students to select a dinosaur to research for a project. Using the same concept, The American Museum of Natural History also offers another free app called Cosmic. The possibilities are endless!

Reviewer: Kathy Burdick, http://mobileieducator.com