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App review by Emily Pohlonski, Common Sense Education | Updated October 2016

Anatomy 4D

Name: Anatomy 4D
Item: Anatomy 4D
Rating: 2
Author: Emily Pohlonski

Augmented-reality tool has potential, but not ready for classroom use

Learning rating

Editorial review by Common Sense Education

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Grades

9–12 This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.

Subjects & Skills

Science, Critical Thinking

Take a look inside

5 images

Anatomy 4D showcases augmented reality to let users interact with the human body.

Images can be emailed or saved from the Target Library.

Images of the human body or the heart are available.

Augmented reality works with paper images or when the images are on the screen of another device.

DAQRI still has some glitches as it builds support tools.

Pros: Augmented-reality features bring organs, such as a 3D pulsing heart, to life on your device.

Cons: Without additional resources or support, students will have a hard time gaining deep conceptual understanding of the human body.

Bottom Line: Cool visuals, but this tool needs more development before it will help high school kids meet NGSS performance expectations.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Anatomy 4D will initially excite students with its augmented-reality features, which are definitely cool. However, students will likely get frustrated quickly because they'll have to move the piece of paper around to get body parts to move on the screen. Kids may have a hard time holding up their device and moving the paper in just the right way.

While Anatomy 4D is not quite ready for classroom use, individual students might find it fun to play around with. Advanced students might want to work on creating their own 4D-enabled documents about the human body and view them using the free DAQRI app.

What Is It?

Anatomy 4D is a free app that uses augmented reality to let students interact with the human body. Kids must first print out a 4D-enabled image of the human body or heart from the app's Target Library. Then the app uses the camera on the device to bring to life a three-dimensional pulsing image.

A rotating menu allows students to turn on or off the blood flow to the heart. Students can also remove and bring back body parts such as the aorta, helping them in anatomy identification. Users must be 17 years old to download the app, which is surprising since the images aren't especially mature or graphic.

Is It Good for Learning?

In a market flooded with interactive anatomy websites and apps, Anatomy 4D needs further development before it will be useful in high school classrooms. Currently, the only two images available in the Target Library are the human body and the heart; students can peek at the different body systems but they can't go very deep. Other apps may cost more money but offer significantly more interaction and learning potential.

To meet the high school expectations for the Next Generation Science Standards, Anatomy 4D will need to add the ability to click on body parts to find specific functions. Without those features, this app is a mostly passive affair that won't enhance students' science knowledge. Formative assessment tools and ways to track student learning are also missing; these and other interactive features would significantly boost the tool's learning potential.

Learning Rating

Overall Rating

Engagement Would it motivate students and hold their interest? Is it visually appealing? Would it inspire teachers to try something new or change their instruction?

Augmented reality is fun, but it loses its cool factor quickly when kids have a hard time getting the body parts to move the way they want. Animations are neat, but it's difficult to zoom in.

Pedagogy Does the tool help teachers promote a more student-centered experience? Will students gain conceptual understanding or think critically? Does it deepen teachers’ pedagogical thinking?

Without features for saving work or tagging images, there's limited learning potential; there's not much here to help students build their own understanding about how parts of the body work together.

Support Can students and teachers get assistance when they need it? Is it created with people of different abilities and backgrounds in mind? Is learning reinforced and extended beyond the digital experience?

Unlike the developer's similar Elements 4D app, this app lacks lesson plans and other support materials. The only help provided is a "support" link where you can fill out a form to ask questions.

Common Sense reviewer

Emily Pohlonski Classroom teacher

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