Wednesday, December 7, 2011

More tested and approved apps for K-12 educators

Found time to test out more apps over the past week. Here is the best of what I found along with some ideas for classroom use!
Fotobabble iPad, iPod, iPhone (free) - Take a picture and then record an audio track to go with it.  Students need to sign in if they want to share their product via email; however you could just use one generic account for the whole class.

Ideas for classroom use:  Student can take a picture of any product (models, drawings, etc.) and then explain their understanding orally.  Great for developing academic vocabulary! Model work can be accessed from teacher email and shared with the class using an LCD projector.

Wolfram Alpha iPad, iPod, iPhone (2.99) - Great resource for all kinds of data from global temps., to utility costs, to where earthquakes occurred globally in the last 24 hours.

Ideas for classroom use:  Use as a real world, up to the minute, data source for science and math lessons.  The data can be copied into Numbers (or other spreadsheet) and analyzed to answer critical questions you provide.

Social Skills iPad, iPod, iPhone (3.99) - Has six photo tutorials (with audio narrative) with 2 levels each (basic and advanced), for a total of 12 tutorials.  The great part is that you can add your own photos and audio to the tutorials

Ideas for classroom use: This app was designed with autistic students in mind; however, I think it could be used to model appropriate behaviors for any struggling students.  You could also have student add their own images and voice to demonstrate their understanding of the appropriate behavior.  

My Congress iPad only (free) - See Twitter Feeds, YouTube Channel releases, and recent news for any member of Congress.

Ideas for Classroom Use: Use as a current events resource for lessons on government (social studies).  Have students analyze politicians communications and rhetorical strategies (language arts).  

Fotopedia Heritage -   iPad, iPod, iPhone (free) Developed by UNESCO with over 25,000 amazing images from around the world. Each image has attached information so student can learn more about the location.  They can also see on an interactive map exactly where the photo taken.  Students can also plot their own trip anywhere in the world and then view a slide show of images from the locations they chose.

Ideas for Classroom Use - Use as a resource for social studies projects.  Have students plot a trip, view it, and then write a creative journal about the places they visited (language arts).

No comments:

Post a Comment