Posts on “ Community Featured Post ”

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!

August 1st marked the beginning of Connected Educators Month and the 3-day kickoff event did not disappoint. The opening sessions featured panelists and speakers including senior Department of Education officials and education thought leaders who presented and led conversation on all things education. Many timely topics were covered such as the current state of education, technological trends, research focusing on the overall needs of students today, and what it means to be a “connected educator” in 2012.  One goal of the celebration is to identify how online communities and networks provide professional development and help both support and expand the scope for teachers deep in the throws of this engaging profession. Don’t miss out of the rest of the unique professional development opportunities throughout Connected Educators Month. Check the schedule often to find out how you can get involved!  Be sure to join the discussion forums to share and learn from other teaching professionals.

Have you heard about Connected Educators Month? This August, the US department of Education is launching a coordinated effort with many education organizations (including BrainPOP) to provide events and activities in dozens of online locations to develop skills and enhance one’s personal learning network. So whats happening?  In addition to a jam packed 3 day kickoff event featuring a virtual who’s who of contemporary education voices, there will be ongoing ways to get involved, including Forums on key topics, such as personalizing learning and the future of the teaching profession,  and preparing for the first 6 weeks of school which will be moderated by noted education leaders and consist of online discussions, interviews, webinars, chats, and more. Guided tours and real-time community open houses, which will connect educators with communities, answering questions such as: Who can help me solve challenges I’m facing in my classroom and how do I best connect with them? How can I help change my profession for the better? Contests for addressing community challenges, developing innovative ideas, and creating compelling video demonstrations. Inauguration of a new series of open badges for connected educators as well as online communities. BrainPOP is super excited to support the event  and… Read the Rest»

Want to see Moby in action?  This animated gif, taken near the BrainPOP booth at the ISTE conference back in June, is sure to brighten your day

Guest Bloggers and BrainPOP Educators Eliza Chung and Jan Bird worked with students from class 1a at The School at Columbia to create their own BrainPOP style movie about raising baby chicks. Here at BrainPOP Educators, we were thrilled to Skype with their students and help create the parameters for the awesome project. Eliza writes: “We wanted our first grade students to show their learning about writing procedural text in a creative manner. We’d been watching BrainPop Jr. videos all year long when they’ve connected with our curriculum, so the kids were familiar with the format and characters. When we Skyped with Andrew, from BrainPOP Educators, he asked us to create content about the changes involved with chicks and how to care for them, (which “coincidentally” was what we’d studied in our classroom). The kids were excited to make a movie for BrainPOP and be famous! They loved knowing other children would learn from what they could share. We brainstormed important knowledge we would need to include in the movie, and kids took charge of various aspects: the backgrounds, characters, and props. We wrote a script together, and each student had a part. They especially enjoyed drawing inspiration from the… Read the Rest»

With all the hoopla about virtual experiences, there is still nothing like a real life, in person, field trip.  On May 31st, students from BrainPOP Educator Elizabeth Gitzen’s 5th grade class were welcomed to the the offices of JASONlive in Ashburn VA. The event?   A live webcast with NASA Systems Engineer Tracy Drain.  During the webcast, students from all around the world sent in questions and participated through interactive polling.  However, the 20 students in Ms. Gitzen’s class watched from the JASONlive screening room, just down the hall from the production studio.  After the webcast, Tracy and Patty, the host, joined the class for a personal Q&A, and students took a behind the scenes tour of the studio.  It was Interesting to not only hear the life and story of a successful NASA systems engineer,  but to visit the studio and observe the effort and planning that goes into creating such a substantial production.  We saw outlines, scripts, green screens, and computers displaying pre-recorded video questions and interactive polls. The event is archived and available at the JASONlive website, after viewing you may want to learn more about Jupiter and the projects Tracy is involved with.  Take a look at our… Read the Rest»

Summer is the perfect time for students to take charge of their own learning. Here are some ideas from our lesson plan bank for extending summer learning for students using BrainPOP: Challenge kids to become BrainPOP experts! They can identify their personal interests and connect to their world as they learn about things that are important to them. Encourage students to download the free BrainPOP Featured Movie app. They can watch a different movie every day! Have students blog about the books they read throughout the summer. Invite students to read different books by a favorite author and investigate the life and works of that author. Challenge your class to explore the games in Game Up. Can they “beat” any of the games? Ask students to report back in the fall about the strategies they used to win. Suggest that students document their learning using digital photography and share the images using web 2.0 tools. Encourage students to write their own BrainPOP script or even produce their own movie on a topic they’re interested in. Want even more ideas? Sign up for a special “Summer Fun with BrainPOP” webinar on June 20th. Also, we’d love to see your students’ summer learning projects using… Read the Rest»

Do you and your students use BrainPOP’s resources in the classroom … and beyond?  We’ve partnered with Intel to sponsor a lesson plan contest and we want to hear how you’re taking BrainPOP to go!  Implemented through We Are Teachers, the contest invites educators to submit lesson plans that showcase the use of BrainPOP’s interactive resources on mobile devices.  Submit by May 22nd! Voting is open to the public; weigh in on what you consider the best submissions between May 24th and June 7th.  Winners will be announced on June 11th, and grand prizes include $200 cash and a Flip cam – ideal for filming all your creative ideas in action!  We’ll even feature the winners on BrainPOP Educators.  We can’t wait to see what you come up with! Get the details and great ideas here.  

We’re super excited about the slew of new games we’ve recently added to GameUp. We’re equally excited to hear what you think! We’ve got Crazy Plant Shop and You Make Me Sick! (Filament Games), Three math puzzles from Lure of the Labyrinth, plus Drop Zone; Square Off; Deep Sea Duel; and Primary Krypto, from our friends at NCTM! Please submit your feedback once you’ve had a chance to play. We are lucky to work with partners who are all ears, and you’ve got a great opportunity to help improve these already amazing games. What are your favorite games on GameUp? How are you using them with your students? Please share your thoughts!