Dissection ... Eww ... Rats!

Punflay has added another virtual dissection, a rat. Rat Dissection for the iPad has been designed for middle and high school students. Punflay says, "It’s a great substitute for the real thing and will fit perfectly in the science curriculum."

Additionally, Punflay states, "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.

Features:
• 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 

App Title: Rat Dissection

Grade Level: Middle and High School

Purpose: Virtual Dissection

Program Functionality: The dissection is very simple as you simply use pins, scissors, scalpel, and forceps.  There isn't too much too it but it gives you a great sense of actually dissecting the rat. 

Overall Educational Value: Good ... If you can't do the real thing, this is the way to go.  Additionally, activities like this are really good prior to or after doing real dissections.  I can see a lot of value in going back and forth between them. 

Recommendation:  I recommend this app for anyone interested in providing a dissection activity for their students.  The students that I worked with were fascinated by the rat!

Classroom Use Examples / Ideas: I like apps like this on the iPad because of the ability to take screenshots and zoom.  After picking and choosing the pictures you might want, students could then take it to another app to talk about the image. 

Developer Website: http://www.punflay.com/

iTunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rat-dissection/id418516605?mt=8
 
Reviewer Name: Scott Meech