Ripped Apart is a free iPad app from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The app is a game in which students play the role of a Smithsonian intern tasked with examining documents and photographs in order to determine where they came from and what they say about the Civil War. Through the game students will learn learn about significant people in the Antebellum and Civil War eras. Students will learn about leading abolitionists, secessionists, and officers on both sides of the Civil War. As they move through the game students will add notes in the app. Those notes should help them solve the mysteries in the game.
I installed Ripped Apart this evening and played it for a while. There are a couple of things that you should note about the app before using it with your students. First, the app does not have a log-in so if your students are sharing iPads they will have to complete the activity before passing off the iPad to another student. Second, students need to complete an activity before moving onto the next one in the app. In other words, they cannot skip around in the app. Finally, an online supplement to the app is available on the Smithsonian website.
