WORLD BOOK - This Day in History for iPad
By Liz Panarelli,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Free app offers historical events, with pics, for each day!
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What you will—and won't—find in this app.
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WORLD BOOK - This Day in History for iPad
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What’s It About?
The calendar opens to the current date, showing several events from that date in history, with a picture accompanying each. Clicking links within an event's description gives a brief encyclopedia entry on the topic, plus Amazon.com links to books related to the topic. Kids can easily scroll through the calendar to find other dates, and then return to the current date by clicking a button at the top of the page. Events have an icon next to them representing a category -- a molecule for scientists, a quill and ink for authors, and guns for military events, for example -- but categories aren't explained. Icons and images aren't clickable.
Is It Any Good?
World Book - This Day in History for iPad is a simple, but solid, app, all the better for being free. The descriptions are encyclopedic -- short enough to be accessible, but with thoughtful nuance and detail. Kids will enjoy seeing what happened around the world on a particular date -- such as their birthdays! The historical events included are from a pretty broad range of topics and countries. The focus is on the United States, but kids are exposed to many different cultures. The photos and occasional audio give the events a little pizzazz. It would be great to be able to search or browse events by category, rather than just looking up days, but that might take away the fun of seeing what tomorrow brings!
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Check the calendar at a certain time each day -- during breakfast or after school snack-time, for example -- to read together about historical events.
Visit a library and explore the biography section to browse some hard-copy encyclopedias to learn more about history.
App Details
- Device: iPad
- Subjects: Social Studies: events, historical figures, history
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: collecting data, investigation
- Pricing structure: Free
- Release date: January 8, 2011
- Category: Education
- Publisher: Software MacKiev
- Version: 3.0.3
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 3.2 or later
- Last updated: August 22, 2016
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