The Digital Education Show Asia, co-organized by Terrapinn and MDeC, and supported by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Malaysia, is a two day conference focusing on how educators can engage students with learning technologies. On May 27 and 28, educators from all over the world will be attending this conference in search of more effective ways to incorporate technology into their teaching.  The only event of its kind in Malaysia, the Digital Education Show Asia will bring together an abundance of presenters and attendees from corporations, ministries, and schools.  Included among the list of engaging presenters is BrainPOP’s Vice President of Learning and Innovation, Dr. Kari Stubbs, who is sure to deliver an inspiring session.

Heading to the conference? Be sure to catch Kari’s keynote, Shifting Paradigms for Teaching and Learning, on May 27 at 2:30. Kari will be discussing student engagement and meaningful learning, and will focus on the role of technology in the new learning ecosystem. She’ll also cover systemic change and the power of common vocabulary with regard to technology in education.

Follow along with the action via #digitaledu, @EducationInAsia, and @karistubbs.

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Does your school have Google Apps for Education and a BrainPOP Jr. subscription? Well then, today’s your lucky day!  BrainPOP Jr. is now available in the Google Apps Marketplace and is designed to provide convenience of single sign on! School-wide BrainPOP Jr. subscribers who use Google Apps will no longer need to log in separately. After installing the free plug in, BrainPOP Jr. will appear listed in the “more” menu of each user’s Google account.   Teachers and students alike will appreciate the seamless school-wide access from Google Apps to BrainPOP Jr.®’s award-winning educational movies.  

If you’re an administrator for the school’s Google Apps account, visit the Google Apps MarketPlace, and make the simple install.  If you’re not a administrator – find one and ask!

We’d love to hear your feedback, so please share!

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BrainPOP Webinar – 1-to-1 and Blended Learning: The Essentials

Wednesday, May 22 at 3:30 pm ET 
Join Common Sense Media and BrainPOP for a look at tools to help make 1-to-1 and blended learning realities in your classroom. Hear about Common Sense’s 1-to-1 Essentials, a comprehensive roadmap for schools integrating a tablet program. It covers everything, from engaging parents to digital citizenship to the best learning apps. We’ll also look at best practices for using BrainPOP’s apps in 1-to-1 and blended learning environments.

Event Password: moby

The post Webinar Alert: Wednesday, May 22 at 3:30 pm ET 1-to-1 and Blended Learning: The Essentials appeared first on BrainPOP Community.

“If you understand something in only one way, then you don’t really understand it at all. The secret of what anything means to us depends on how we’ve connected it to all other things we know.” – AI researcher Marvin Minsky

Many of you may use the technique of visualizing or using metaphors to help remember peoples names, personal responsibilities or even your grocery list.  It’s a powerful way to learn.  You can actually strengthen the cognitive pathways associated with subject matter through making many connections to the material through many avenues.  A novice adult and a novice child have many similarities in processing and in instructional needs.

Just think about how having the ability to follow hyperlinks as you are web-surfing has enriched your experience learning something new.  That cross-linking of content for multiple interpretations serves to deepen your understanding of whatever subject it is you are interested in.

Learning through rote memorization is the opposite of learning through connections.  Rote memorization involves learning through repeated exposure.  That’s great for some things, but it rarely produces the kind of high order critical thinking skills that we associate with extraordinary mental abilities.

At BrainPOP, we are hopeful our visual and engaging animations and games model integrated, connection rich thinking.  By creating animations and videos our goal is to contribute, in some small way, to nurture a future citizenry of life long learners!

Laura Gatto is currently a M.A. Candidate in the DMDL Instructional Design program at New York University’s Steinhardt School. She also advises for BrainPOP’s games department.

The post Visualization, Connections, and Higher Order Thinking – a Guest Blog Post by Laura Gatto appeared first on BrainPOP Community.

Announcing the GLS Playful Learning Summit!

The post Playful Learning Summit at GLS appeared first on BrainPOP Community.

Congratulations to GameUp partners Filament Games and Learning Games Network for their nominations in the “Best Gameplay” category at the annual Games for Change awards this June. LGN’s game,  Quandary, is a part of the GameUp game network and was the first title in our English Language Arts section.  In this popular game,  ”players shape the future of a new society while learning how to recognize ethical issues and deal with challenging situations in their own lives.”  By creating complex decision making situations in which players must weigh fact, opinion, trustworthiness and risk this title supports teaching toward many ELA common core state standards.

Filament’s Game, Reach for the Sun has players,  ”help a young seedling grow and reproduce before winter approaches.” Though Reach for the Sun is not featured on GameUp, many other Filament games are, including:  You Make Me Sick, Cell Command, Crazy Plant Shop and The Sports Network 2.  Be sure to check out the Games For Change Blog for more information about all the nominated games. And may the best game win!

The post Games For Change Award Nominations go to GameUp Partners Filament and Learning Games Network! appeared first on BrainPOP Community.

The Game-Based Curriculum: Directing Learning with Quests, Badges, Achievements, & Truly Personalized Learning
Tuesday, May 14, 2013- 4pm / Eastern Time
REGISTER HERE for the webinar.

What would school look like if it “played” like a video game? Researchers and faculty at Boise State University have created an experimental game-based learning management system to find out.

In edWeb.net’s next webinar, Boise State’s Chris Haskell will share their work over the past two years on the principles of quest-based learning. Chris will discuss key design elements of quest-based learning, such as points, badges, achievements, leveling, and student choice. He also will demonstrate their tool and its pedagogy. Join Chris on May 14th to learn how quest-based learning can deliver personalized learning with student success and satisfaction.

*Please note that this webinar is not hosted by BrainPOP and all professional development certificates will be issued by edWeb.net.

The post Webinar Alert: edWeb.net Presents – The Game-Based Curriculum: Directing Learning with Quests, Badges, Achievements, & Truly Personalized Learning appeared first on BrainPOP Community.

BrainPOP Webinar - Text Demands and Best Practice for Leveling Books

Wednesday, May 15 at 3:30 pm ET 
Language arts teachers know that leveling books is both art and science. In this webinar, Kathy Burdick, president of Mobile Learning Services and developer of https://www.textdemands.com/, discusses various approaches. She’ll explore different leveling systems, quantitative and qualitative text attributes, and the dangers that arise when using an incomplete diagnostic system.

Event Password: moby

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As Teacher Appreciation Week comes to a close, we hope that all of our educators are feeling the love and appreciation they deserve. Check out some of the stories of influential teachers from the BrainPOPpers below. Teachers, we appreciate you!

In first grade, Ms. Wynn guided us to turn our classroom into a tropical rainforest, complete with paper mache birds and an enormous tree in the center. That room was magical, and her ability to get us all working together to build it was genius. Ahh, the progressive classrooms of 1982. . .how times have changed.

-Andrew Gardner, Senior Manager, BrainPOP Educators

Ms. Wolfskill was my seventh and eighth-grade speech and drama teacher at Burbank Middle School. She was able to take a bunch of inner-city kids and turn us into a drama geeks and wannabe Toastmasters. She taught us things like how to speak like newscasters, how to paint a mime face and how to get over our stage fright to perform for a very tough middle school audience. Most importantly she taught us to like ourselves as we were. Her influence is no doubt one of the reasons that I got into education.

-Arturo Guajardo, District Relations Manager

In kindergarten Mrs. Benton taught intensives. She had a full quarter of school dedicated to the study of animals. During that time we planned a field-trip to the Audubon society. As a precursor to the trip she brought a large selection of household tools into class. She had us take turns deciding which tool we would use to get a berry out of the bottom of a tall glass, which one we’d use to crack open a nut etc. She pulled the activity back to the function and evolution of the bird’s beaks and claws we would see on our trip, eventually leading to an open discussion on the inspiration nature provides to many of our daily experiences. That started my fascination with function, motion and ultimately animation. Her example forever inspires my passion for K-3 education.

-Amber Alvarez, Senior Animator

Reflecting back on my education, I’m not able to pinpoint just a single teacher who inspired me, because there were so many. Mrs. Jones, my first grade teacher, supplied my makeshift classroom at home with all of the necessities, while Mrs. Ripp encouraged creativity not only in the arts, but in all academic areas. There are many others, and the list is full of some pretty amazing teachers. I feel fortunate that I’ve had the opportunity to be surrounded by influential teachers while I was in school, and it’s these individuals who inspired me to choose a career in education myself.

-Carrie Mignano, Manager, BrainPOP Educators

When I was in 4th grade, I was in a multi-age class which combined 4th and 5th grades in one classroom. Our teachers Mrs. Meltzer and Mrs. Grey had us do many fun and interactive projects which really promoted our independence using hands on learning. Two of my favorite projects were when we were studying Renaissance artists. For the first one, we were asked to bring in a bar of soap and we each carved our own soap sculpture. For the second project, they had us taping paper underneath our desks. We then had to lie under our desks on our backs and draw pictures to see how Michelangelo felt when he painted the Sistine Chapel. Needless to say, it was a blast!

-Vanessa Levy, Subscriber Relations Associate

The post Celebrating Our Teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week appeared first on BrainPOP Community.

We couldn’t help but share the final comments from the students at Middle Tennessee State University. We’re thrilled that the university’s Professor of Biology, Cindi Smith-Walters PhD, has introduced BrainPOP to so many of her students and it’s exciting to hear how their using BrainPOP on their own!

BrainPOP has everything that a teacher would need to teach a lesson and learn something new along the way. Science is definitely my weak point, but BrainPOP has helpful videos and quizzes that are a good source of information and fun to watch at the same time. Throughout the semester, we had a couple of assignments that required us to use BrainPOP and I thought that it would be another one of those boring sites with more words than pictures, but that was not the case. I was surprised at how much there is to do on this site and I found it interesting to just search around on my own free time. I cannot wait to use this site in my classroom and to learn more from all the helpful videos and quizzes. It definitely gets a plus from me.

-Jordan L. Littleton

BrainPOP has been a fun and creative way for me to educate myself on topics studied in class. For students, it gives them a memorable cartoon mixed with visual explanations. My mother is a second grade teacher and said she uses BrainPOP to introduce lessons, and provide a good foundation to what her lessons hold. Her students catch on to the theme of the video and retain what is being taught. Personally, I can remember all of the BrainPOP videos what were required to watch for biology class because of the cute robot along with the helpful quizzes at the end.

In the future when I am a teacher, I definitely will incorporate BrainPOP into my lessons. Instead of me getting up in front of the class and just lecturing, it allows a fun visual aid for all the visual and auditory learners. It also is a great tool for proving background information for the teacher. I would recommend BrainPOP to any teacher looking for an entertaining and imaginative way of learning/teaching.

-Andie Lee Williamson

BrainPOP has really helped me understand key concepts this semester in my biology class.  It breaks things down in a simple format easy enough for the youngest students to understand and makes things less intimidating in the way information is presented.  The information is always written in a somewhat comical tone, however, the message is still clear.  This is especially important for someone like me because I am not a “science person,” so having the illusion that I’m not really researching science is a great thing for me.  I love being able to read information and then complete reinforcement activities to test my knowledge. The same goes for watching a BrainPOP movie-  I’m always able to read the information then watch a video on the topic.  After watching the video, I’m able to take a quiz to review. Being able to rely on BrainPOP has been a great help.  As a future educator, I appreciate helpful sites such as BrainPOP, plan on using it in my own classroom, and would recommend it to any student or educator.

-Raven L. Booth

Let me start by saying brainpop is wonderful! This semester we have used BrainPOP to address different topics within biology. The videos I viewed went in just enough detail to get a great explanation and still be concise. I loved that! Being a pre-service teacher, I need all the resources I can get to put in my library of teacher lesson plans and materials. BrainPOP has been in my resource collection long before Dr.C’s class, but I am glad she has introduced everyone to it in case they have not used it before. My favorite uses of the videos are for my science lessons. They are great for the ‘set’ in a lesson plan. They really grab attention of students. Today, whether we like it or not, technology is HUGE in the classroom and BrainPOP is great for all levels of tech users.

My favorite videos for my lessons have been in the Earth System unit. I am a bit of an environmentalist, so I love to spread my passion on to the future of this earth, i.e. my students, by sharing these great, entertaining videos. You can also use BrainPOP on your tablet with your own children. I have a six-month-old baby girl and a three-year-old niece who watch along with me when I am searching for good resources for my lessons. My niece loves the videos! Another great thing is the wide age group that can grasp the concepts and apply their knowledge in their everyday lives. This is a HUGE plus! Thanks BrainPOP!

-Misty Moman

BrainPOP has been a favorite learning website of mine since I first viewed it in a 3rd grade classroom. Moby has always given me a laugh and spiked an interest in me learning the material in the videos. In my recent science class, we used the website to learn about topics such as Bacteria, the Big Bang Theory, and Evolution. Each video gives the basic information on various subjects and can assist in supporting both struggling and advanced students. There are quizzes and activities that are available to assess each child’s understanding. As a pre-service teacher, I plan to use BrainPOP whenever there is a video that covers my current topic. Especially with the rise in technology, BrainPOP has truly taken education to an interesting and fun level. I am thankful that I have experienced BrainPOP and am looking forward to the educational advances it brings in my classroom.

-Lindsay Crawford

I was introduced to BrainPOP about 5 months ago and am now totally addicted! I cannot believe that I had never heard of it, especially since I have a 2nd grader. I am currently enrolled in 5 classes as I work toward my Interdisciplinary Studies K-6 degree and I have used BrainPOP regularly as a source for lessons in 4 of those 5. I have even turned a few other students on to the wonders of the site, as well! I have 2 kids of my own, my step-daughter is 8 and my son is 3 and they both love it! I put the app on my iPad and they’ll watch it for as long as I’ll let them. As a mom and future educator, it is great to have such a diverse resource available that is so user friendly. have recommended BrainPOP to all of my friends with children, and will continue to use it throughout my education as well as my teaching career in the future!!

-Dayna Judd

The post BrainPOP in the University Classroom – The Final Installment appeared first on BrainPOP Community.