Seashores to Sea Floors-the Ocean Biome App Review
App Info
Price: $5.99
Overview
Seashores to Sea Floors-the Ocean Biome is an outstanding and comprehensive digital textbook that gives detailed information about oceans. It harnesses the iPad’s capabilities for education in a way that few other apps can match.
Features include:
- Adjustable reading level from grade 1 to grade 8
- Multimedia presentation
- Capability to manage multiple student records
- Optional commonly-used accommodations for special needs students
- Common Core connections
Quality
Seashores to Sea Floors-the Ocean Biome is an extremely high-quality app that will amaze students, parents and teachers alike. Its capabilities allow adults to completely individualize the experience for a huge range of students, and learners can only benefit from the outstanding multimedia presentation. The app’s lessons showcase the iPad’s capabilities and make it easy for nearly anyone to access the content. Plus, it keeps detailed records for each student. Who could ask for more?
Education
If your student needs to study the oceans for science class, or simply enjoys learning about the topic, then this app is high on the list of options to consider. It features clear and well-organized lessons, engaging and fun text, and outstanding multimedia tools that enhance the content. It includes definitions of tough words, interesting facts in each section, interactive maps, and more. The app can track student progress, keep individualized bookmarks, highlighting and notes, and send test results to teachers or parents. Adults can also access supplemental materials and related lesson plans on the developers’ website for free.
Teachers and parents alike will appreciate this app’s adjustable reading level feature. The text and test levels can be adjusted to cover grades 1 through 8, while still maintaining educational integrity and focusing on the core concepts. Most students learn this material in science class between grades 3 and 5, so it can be adapted to every level between struggling student and gifted. Find this feature in the Levels section when the textbook is open. You can also turn on other accommodations in the Settings section, including manipulating the text size, setting tests to be read aloud, or turn on voice recording for essay test answers. This app is perfect for meeting the needs of a wide range of students.
Be sure to read the included manual so you can take advantage of the app’s power. You’ll find the manual in the “Media” section.
Entertainment
While this app isn’t really intended to be a toy, it is very engaging and fun to use. Its interactivity and adaptability really shine, and it will grab the attention of most students with the different multimedia features. It includes interesting facts and an interactive map feature that offers a lot of detail that is not included in the text.
Value
This app may seem a little pricy, but it is well worth the expense. Think of it more as a textbook or a workbook, and you’ll get the picture. Its interactivity and adaptability really are outstanding features that make the investment worthwhile, especially if you work with students who need access to simplified or above-average complexity. You can also set the app up to keep records of student use and to send test results automatically so you can keep track of what’s going on.
Child Friendliness
Seashores to Sea Floors contains no in-app purchases, no outside advertising, and no links to social media. The only concern is that the Settings tab is not protected. This area allows access to reset options such as the read-aloud option, turning test images on or off, or changing the text size. The section also includes a link to DropBox and the teacher’s email address.
One problem of note: if the link to DropBox is activated, then canceled, the user is not always returned to “Blades,” but sent to another app in the series, “Pines to Vines,” if that is available on the device.
