Posts on “ awards ”

Our K-3 resource has been named the winner of a 2013 ON for Learning Award from Common Sense Media! The ON for Learning Awards celebrate the best digital media products for kids. BrainPOP Jr. is one of just 50 apps, web sites, and games to be honored this year. Common Sense Media is dedicated to providing families with reliable information about media and technology; some of you may recognize the organization as one of our GameUp partners. Their ON for Learning Award winners are chosen based on the results of an intensive evaluation framework. Read what they had to say about BrainPOP Jr. We’re thrilled about this honor! Feel free to spread the good news by test driving our newly minted SHARE button, which you’ll see at the bottom of this post,      

Every January, the big players in the consumer electronics industry gather in Las Vegas to share the newest innovations and developments. From collossal TVs to networked “smart” home appliances this yearly event exhibits products that were once dreams of science fiction. For the past four years, Living in Digital Times and Children’s Technology Review have use the Consumer Electronics Show as the place to present the KAPi Kids at Play Awards, honoring the best of the best in children’s technology. This year’s KAPi Award winners were selected from a pool of over 700 apps, video games, toys and other commercial digital products designed for children, as well as individuals who have make their mark in the world of children’s tech. BrainPOP is thrilled that GameUp was selected to receive the award for Best Educational Technology! We’ve put a lot of effort into curating GameUp, to be the best digital learning game network, so we believe the recognition is well earned (and we hope you do too!) We’re even more thrilled to be included in the company of so many other terrific digital learning products such as LittleBits, Kinect Sesame Street, Kindle Fire HD Freetime, MakerFaire and Toca Boca. Thanks again… Read the Rest»

The National School Boards Association is looking for educators who are passionate about using technology to make a dramatic impact on teaching and learning.  If you know of an educator who embraces the newest tools and is always exploring how they can be applied to education, please be sure to submit their names for consideration as part of the NSBA’s “20 to Watch” recognition program by December 10th. The “20 to Watch” program was established as part of the 20th anniversary celebration for NSBA’s technology and learning conference in 2006.  The program identifies the emerging leaders within the education technology community who have the ability to impact the field over the next 20 years.  The 2012-13 “20 to Watch” will be honored in San Diego during CoSN’s Annual Conference on March 11th and recognized during the Technology Leadership Network Luncheon at the NSBA Annual Conference, also in San Diego, on April 14th. We have a long line of BrainPOP Educators who are past nominees for this prestigious program including Dr. Kari Stubbs, BrainPOP’s Vice President of Innovation and Learning; Adina Popa; Robert Miller; and Teryl Magee.  Now it’s your turn to nominate one of your innovative and inspiring colleagues!

Just like Jamaican running superstar Usain Bolt crossed the finish line for a gold at the Olympics- “Guts and Bolts” – one of BrainPOP’s own games on GameUp – is now a gold award winner all its own! Today, at the Serious Play conference in Redmond Washington- Guts and Bolts was awarded a prestigious gold award for best educational game! In the aptly titled game, the player takes on a role similar to Dr. Frankenstein, and is tasked with putting together organs from the different body systems to make living and breathing human! By laying pipe, like a plumber, players explore the body systems, observing the multiple inputs, outputs and connections of the circulatory, respiratory, nervous and digestive systems. Guts and Bolts is great for teaching, building vocabulary and schema about body systems,  but it’s also just a lot of fun! Check it out and enjoy, and if you make it to the finish of level 12, give yourself a gold, but don’t give away the ending!

  This is the homestretch: submissions for the lesson plan contest we’re sponsoring with Intel are due May 22nd! Implemented through We Are Teachers, the contest invites educators to submit lesson plans showcasing the use of our resources on mobile devices. Grand prizes include $200 (put it to use at ISTE, perhaps?!) plus a Flip cam you can use to film your creative ideas in action. We’ll also feature the winners right here on BrainPOP Educators. To help get your creative juices flowing, We Are Teachers has put together a few tips for pairing digital resources with mobile devices. Show a clip to introduce a lesson. Have partners watch together on a Slate or Netbook. Challenge them to tackle any related activities together, and ask them to brainstorm questions they have about what they’ve just seen. Then, use their questions to jumpstart your class discussion. Invite fast finishers to tune in. Allow fast finishers to don headphones and watch relevant movies on a Smartphone or Slate. Use video to differentiate your lessons. Video and movies are great tools for reaching a broad range of learners. Show a movie that ties in to what you’re teaching. Students who are still struggling with the concepts… Read the Rest»

Let’s hear it for our very own Kari Stubbs, who was recognized as one of Daily Edventures’ global heroes in education!  Daily Edventures is an education-focused blog that has a central goal for 2012: to identify 365 inspiring advocates for education.  Kari was interviewed by the site’s editor, Anthony Salcito, who is also vice president of education for Microsoft Corp.’s Worldwide Public Sector organization.  In her interview, Kari reflects on her experiences as a classroom teacher and shares her expertise on game-based learning and its growing popularity in schools.  She explains the driving force behind our GameUp feature  while sharing the many resources we have to support it. Want to hear more from Kari about educational gaming?  Check out her keynote address from the 2011 Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum.  With her wealth of knowledge on education and game-based learning, it’s easy to see why Kari has been recognized as a global ed hero.  She sure is one of ours!

BrianPOP is pleased to partner with Samsung and the Turning Foundation to sponsor the Classroom Improvement Technology Grant. The purpose of this grant is to help educators develop 21st century classrooms and improve achievement by providing technology tools from multiple, industry leading companies. By assembling a package of technology-based classroom supports, we hope to improve achievement and the overall success of students and teachers in the classroom.Grant applications will be accepted from teachers in grades K-12 who are currently teaching in an accredited, non-profit school building in the United States. Ten (10) classroom awards estimated at $3,600 each will be distributed. So what are you waiting for?  Apply for the grant by Feb 15th and good luck!

Dr. Kari Stubbs, Vice President of 21st Century Learning at BrainPOP, is in her first term as a corporate member of ISTE’s board. Looking for a way to get involved with ISTE? Consider volunteering or serving as a board member. Corporate members are represented on the ISTE Board by two representatives who serve a staggered two-year term.  ISTE is currently seeking qualified nominations for the position that becomes available starting June, 2012. The Call for Nominations for this position will be open January 6 – January 20, 2012. To find out more about the Board position, including brief information about the duties of this position and the Board election process, visit www.iste.org/volunteer.  Note: The nominee must be an (individual) ISTE member. The winner of the general election, held in March 2012, will serve a two-year term. The term of service for the open position begins the first day of the ISTE Board meeting immediately preceding ISTE’s Annual Conference & Exposition in 2012 and concludes a day prior to the first day of the ISTE Board meeting immediately preceding ISTE’s Annual Conference in 2014. Board members are allowed to serve a two-term maximum.  

Dr. Kari Stubbs, Vice President of 21st Century Learning at BrainPOP, was in the first “20 to Watch” class in 2006. Since then, many BrainPOP Educators have been recognized including Adina Popa, Robert Miller, and Teryl Magee. Click here to checkout the previous winners. NSBA’s “20 to Watch” Recognition Program Do you know educators who are passionate about using technology to transform teaching and learning; who can inspire their colleagues to embrace new tools; and who are curious by nature and always looking for how the next innovation can be applied to education?  If so, please submit their names by January 12th for consideration as part of the National School Boards Association’s “20 to Watch” recognition program.  The 2011-12 “20″ will be honored in Washington during CoSN’s Annual Conference, March 5-7, and recognized during the Technology Leadership Network Luncheon at the NSBA Annual Conference in Boston, April 22. Established in 2006 as a part of the 20th anniversary celebration for NSBA’s technology and learning conference , the “20 to Watch” program identifies emerging leaders within the education technology community who have the potential to impact the field for the next 20 years. While primarily focused on K-12 teachers, administrators, and… Read the Rest»

Congratulations to BrainPOP Educators: @jenniethom, @taclark and @stonewalllap_teacher the three winners of our Food Fight creative idea T-shirt contest!  By playing BrainPOP’s newest game “FoodFight” on GameUP and sharing their creative lesson ideas in our games forum, they will be celebrating the holidays in their new T-Shirts! Take a look at the forum discussion to see why Jennie thinks playing the game made her feel, ”it’s time to revisit food chains” in her classroom. Read further and see how stonewalllap_teacher considers this game as a terrific writing prompt. @Taclark cleverly connects school community with the concepts of food chains, competition and balanced ecosystems. It’s amazing how many ways game play helps students explore academic concepts.  It’s no wonder that gaming is gaining traction in schools around the world.   If you didn’t enter our contest, but you still want to win a Moby shirt,  keep up with BrainPOP educators here on our blog and on Twitter and Facebook.  You never know when we might feature another fabulous contest!