Brain Pop - Brain Pop

This review of Brain Pop was completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 20 November 2017.

About the app

This section contains details about the app provided by an ACCM Reviewer.

ACCM review

This review of Brain Pop contains the following information:

• The level to which the game was reviewed
• App description
• Reviewers comments
• In App purchasing
• Online information
• Gambling
• Advertising and product placement
• Gender stereotypes and sexual references
• Coarse language
• Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents
• Other

The level to which the game was reviewed

Played for several hours.

App description

Brain Pop is an educational app designed to teach and quiz children on various academic subjects including science, social studies, english, maths, art, music, health and technology. The 3-4 minute video clips feature a teenager (cartoon character) named “Tim” and robot named “Moby”. Tim clearly explains a particular topic (ie What is American Football? What are Ethics?), using a cartoon video story to help convey the information. Once the video is finished, the player can take the 10 question quiz. Players are then shown their score – with reference to how most players usually do on that quiz – and can record this on their own device.

Reviewers comments

Brain Pop is an educational app that tests the player’s general knowledge with short quizzes. The questions are well designed in that they don’t simply ask questions which can be taken word for word from the videos. Rather, the questions require players to think about the context and piece different kinds of information together to get the correct answer – hence providing a better understanding of the context through examining meaning rather than just rote learning. There are 3 free movies per subject. If players want to access all the other videos, they’ll need to register a log in and subscribe to either Brain Pop Explorer or Brain Pop full access (which costs $4.49 and $10.99 per month respectively).

In App purchasing

Yes, see subscriptions as noted in reviewer’s comments.

Online information

Log ins

Gambling

At the time of review, the reviewer found no simulated gambling content.  If you discover simulated gambling content in this app, please contact us with the details so we can update our review.

Advertising and product placement

None noted – other than ads for other Brain Pop material.

Gender stereotypes and sexual references

None. This app was very proactive in this area, featuring men and women in equal standing. For example, when talking about American Football – half the players in the football team were female.

Coarse language

None noted.

Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents

Parents need to be aware of the subscription option in this game – although it does require a password.

Other

N/A.

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