OLogy
© 2020 American Museum of Natural History
Great content, at an even better price (free) meets poor interactive design in this web site turned app from the American Museum of Natural History in New York -- the huge museum located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. The bottom line is that it is worth the download, especially if you happen to be taking a group of children to the museum. But it needs to be modernized to work on touch screens. The OLogy science website https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology has been running for two decades, and it forms the basis for this app. Once downloaded (it takes a while) it does not require an internet connection. You get 36 modules that include mini lectures from scientists on Tyrannosaurus Rex (children can learn about the dinosaur’s anatomy and senses) and a biodiversity game that asks players to match species of Cuban wildlife to their different habitats. There's also a lesson on how astronomers calculate the distance to faraway stars; and a primer on the flu that can help children understand viral transmission. It is available for iPads running iOS 11.0 or later and can be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store here. The content is excellent, but the presentation quality varies, primarily because the content is not sized well to the screen. Some fonts are too small to read, and the most of the content could be presented via video or text. This app appears to be adapted from the web, rather than being designed around the tablet platform.
iPad
Teaches: natural science, biology, history, ecology, archaeology, paleontology, astrophysics, and biology
CTR Rating: 66%