Britannica Kids – Solar System

• Reviewer: Hengtao Tang
• Description: Britannica Kids: Solar System is an interactive encyclopedia about our solar system where kids drag and tap their fingers to browse pages of information, look at pictures, and watch videos using a pop-up scroll wheel. In addition, this creative app wins Silver Award Winner from E-Learning for ‘Best Use of Mobile Learning. The app is created by Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc and its newest version is 2.1 that is updated on Oct. 18th, 2011. It requires iOS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
• Link: https://itunes.apple.com/mu/app/britannica-kids-solar-system/id413282398?mt=8
• Cost: $6.99
• Review: Britannica Kids: Solar System allows kids aging from 4-17 to learn all about the solar system through a broad range of materials that cover the physical properties of the sun, moon, planets, asteroids, and comets, and also physics concepts such as gravity and space, as well as a brief history of astronomy and space exploration. This app encourages self-study, memorization, and academic development through quizzes that test kids on what they’ve learned, and that are timed and scored so kids can strive to improve. Britannica Kids: Solar System is well adapted for K-12 science class and this app complements a budding interest in astronomy, with jumping-off points into astronomy, geology, and the solar system to explore those subjects in more detail. Text info is well balanced with colorful images, photographs, and videos for an engaging multimedia experience. Kids get feedback on what they’ve learned by taking quizzes, which encourages them to master the information.

ColorSplash

• Reviewer: Hengtao Tang
• Description: ColorSplash is an app that is designed by Pocket Pixels Inc. Its aim is to stimulate kids’ creativity through picking colors to add color to a black-and-white photo with finger-tapping. The newest version of the app is 2.0.2 that is updated on Oct. 23rd, 2013. It requires iOS 5.0 or later and compatible with iPad/iPhone/iPod.
• Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/color-splash-for-ipad/id374308914
• Cost: $1.99
• Review: This app encourages kids to paint the black-and-white photo according to their own will and creativity through color-tapping. This simple photo editing app lets kids turn photos into minor works of art they’ll have fun showing off and they can directly post their masterpiece to social network, such as twitter, Facebook, and etc. The app is easy to handle and the exploration of utilizing kids’ creativity will, in turn, better engage them in this interesting inquiry process.

Bookboard

• Reviewer: Hengtao Tang
• Description: The app is designed by Bookboard, Inc. to increase kids’ reading motivation. This app requires iOS 5.0 or later and now is only compatible with iPad. Now the newest version is 1.55 updated on Sept. 25th, 2013.
• Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bookboard/id607336107?mt=8
• Cost: Free to down load but need to pay for subscription.
• Review: Bookboard is a subscription service for children’s books that has a library of more than 300 books targeted at children ages 2-12. The mobile app for the subscription integrates game mechanics to motivate children’s reading within a goal-directed approach, which resembles role-play games and readers become the hero to take consecutive challenges to unlock more books. In addition, the app has book filters to select books for kids as well as built-in database which can help monitor the reading process and proficiency. It can be integrated in reading courses for preK and K-5 courses and parents’ involvement is also invited with this app. The expectance for this app is an increase in kids’ reading interests, and even reading proficiency.

Coursepad

• Reviewer: Hengtao Tang
• Description: The app is designed by Arnaud Coomans because he wants to use Coursera on mobile devices. This app requires iOS 5.1 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The new version is optimized for iPhone 5.
• Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/coursepad/id599272456?mt=8
• Cost: Free
• Review: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) now become a popular word for the realm of education and so many learners register and take courses from MOOCs providers, such as Coursera, EdX, and etc. This app allows users to learn with Coursera courses on their mobile devices, such as iPad, iPhone, and etc., which is more convenient and ubiquitous.