Posts on “ apps ”

Join the POParrazi We are excited to be in Austin, Texas, this week for the 2013 TCEA Conference.  If you’re at the conference, stop by Booth # 1717 to take your picture with Moby and participate in our #mobyandme POParrazi photo collection!  While you’re there, find out about the latest developments at BrainPOP, including the mixer, new Educators pages ,and a special first glimpse of new teacher and student accounts!   BrainPOP is also featured in the conference program – our own Arturo Guajardo will present BrainPOP Basics and Beyond Thursday, FEB. 7th from 12:30 – 1:20pm in the Hilton ROOM 406. See you there!  

BrainPOP Mobile: Learning at Your Fingertips Wednesday, November 30th 4:30 PM EDT Duration: 1 Hour Discover how BrainPOP’s Featured Movie iOS app, newly updated to enable access to all of our movies and quizzes, brings learning to students’ fingertips! We’ll show you creative ways to use the app throughout the day; you’ll also see how it can be used as a modification tool. You’ll wonder how you ever taught without it!  

With all the excitement about our new iOS app, BrainPOP welcomes guest blogger, and mobile technology advocate Scott Newcomb.  Scott has taught for 10 years and works with 4th graders at St. Marys Intermediate School, Ohio. This is a public school in its 3rd year using mobile learning devices with their students. Scott helped organize and participated in the first Mobile Learning Technology Conference in Ohio in May of 2009. Scott has helped with professional development training for staff members using smartphone computers. He has presented about Mobile Learning at the E-Tech Ohio Conference, Mobile Learning Technology Conference in Ohio 2009-2010, OSBA Conference, and the ISTE Conference in Denver, Colorado, USA.  He has also conducted webinars on the topic of mobile learning for Classroom 2.0 Live, EdTech Talk and the Reform Symposium. Can’t Miss Mobile Learning Resources @SNewco 1)   Mobile Learning Integration via @kylepace If you are looking to integrate iPads and iPods into your classroom curriculum, this is the site for you! It has an entire section of apps that work well in the classroom.  It also has user guides, pod casts and a user agreement. Another great aspect of this site is that it highlights tips and tricks… Read the Rest»

You’ve been asking about it for months … and now you’ve got it! We’re proud to announce the launch of a major upgrade to our popular Featured Movie app, enabling mobile access to our entire collection of movies and quizzes from your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.  The upgraded app, available in the iTunes App Store will continue to deliver a fresh – and free! – Featured Movie and related quiz every day.  But you’ll also have the option of adding one of two subscriptions for additional learning. “Explorer Level”  complements the free Featured Movie with four additional related movies and quizzes each day. ($1.99/month) “Full Access Level” gives you unlimited access to all 750+ BrainPOP movies and quizzes  ($6.99/month)- sorry, K-3 teachers – BrainPOP only for now. If you’re already a BrainPOP subscriber, you’ll be able to log in from the app at no additional cost. If you’ve already been enjoying the previous version of the app, there is no need to re-download, just click update when prompted by iTunes®.  So, take the new version for a spin and tell us what you think – we’d love your feedback! Our Featured Movie app has been downloaded more than 900,000 times, and… Read the Rest»

Wednesday, September 21 6:30 PM EST Duration 1 hour Go mobile with BrainPOP! Special guest host Tammie Mihet, a Florida teacher, shows you creative ways to use work our Featured Movie app into your day. Whether you use the app in Chrome, on an HP TouchPad, or on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, you’ll pick up great integration ideas, lesson plans, resources, and more.

  Augmented Reality has tremendous potential in the educational world. PBS Kids partnered with AR development company Ogmento to create the game Hatchling Party.  “Every new technology is an opportunity for learning,” said PBS Kids Interactive vice president Sara DeWitt (video), who notes that one of AR’s most exciting aspects is its ability to connect kids to the real world. “We see some real possibilities for young kids to interact with these 3-D objects in a way that they normally wouldn’t.” Sony recently launched Second Sight a program that allows students to create virtual interactions with a variety of media using QR codes that they create and a PSP handheld game. I saw some great demos of this at the BETT convention and at the Learning Without Frontiers Conference in London. A new show that was recently launched by PBSKids.org called  Dinosaur Train Hatching Party, is an augmented reality game for kids from 3 to 5 years old. An adult prints out a colorful graphic and when a pre-schooler holds it in front of a webcam, a 3-D dinosaur egg appears on-screen. Because eggs need the warmth of the sun to hatch, the toddler turns the paper so light hits… Read the Rest»

Kids need to relate to real life experiences to learn and as a teacher I strive to make those connections when introducing new concepts. This week in math we are working on conversion; learning the basics of converting gallons to quarts, to pints, to cups, and vice-versa. Before I even think about introducing the math involved, I want students to be “prepped” by building their background knowledge. So, we begin our introduction to the lesson with our class friends, Tim and Moby, from BrainPOP.   Together we watch the Customary Units movie and pause as needed to discuss. This adventure with Tim and Moby gives us solid mathematical information and a real life historical perspective; we learn that customary units are older than the metric system and that the U.S.A. never converted over from the older Imperial System. Students also learn that customary units were originally used in agriculture and trade, long before the metric system came into use. The information provided on measurement and volume activates their knowledge, so they are ready for the remainder of the lesson.   To provide reinforcement of what we just learned and to prepare students for the meat of the lesson where we… Read the Rest»

Aysha Ames is a fourth grade mathematics teacher in Montclair, New Jersey. BrainPOP has been an essential component of her classroom for the past two years and she is always finding new and creative ways to use iPod Touches, other mobile devices, and technology with her students. Check out how she uses the BrainPOP Featured Movie App in conjunction with her Morning Meeting. As a mathematics teacher of 75 students I find that it’s often hard to address current and historical events in a class period when there’s so much subject matter to teach. I was at a crossroads…I wanted to connect my students with the world around them, but I had difficulty finding the time!  Then I discovered…there’s the BrainPOP Featured Movie App for that! I think Morning Meeting is a great way to foster a spirit of community in my classroom. My homeroom students and I generally like to discuss the day’s historical significance and current events; however, there was a huge disparity in students’ background knowledge.   I would often find that certain students would dominate the discussion while others would remain silent. I would have no idea what my students previously knew about the topic, or what… Read the Rest»

Missed the Mobile Learning Experience in Phoenix earlier this month? Still interested in learning more about mobile devices in the classroom? Your problems are solved! Checkout the Mobile Learning Experience Conference blog. With hundreds of blog posts over the three-day event, you are sure to find some pertinent information from favorite apps to student perspectives on mobiles. I love the scoop on the QR codes and their potential for student learning. Check it out and let us know what ideas bubble to the top for you!

Kate Ryder, a 5th year elementary school teacher, is one of five winners in the Mobile Learning Experience Contest. Join us in congratulating Kate as she shares her vision for mobile learning, “My own love of learning, A-Ha moments, and FUN are promoted by my favorite mobile devices. I, myself, have experienced a positive impact professionally and personally when incorporating mobile learning into my daily life and as a result strive to provide my students with the same opportunity.” Mobile Learning Facilitates A-HAs and FUN There are two things any teacher, from pre-service to old-school veteran, will tell you are required for high student achievement (academically and socially). No, it is not based on years of research…just good old fashioned common sense! Students learn and retain more information when: 1.  The students’ light bulbs illuminate and they have “A-Ha” experiences. and 2. Students are engaged, on task, and learning when they are…dare I say it…having FUN! Even though this is not justification for the “powers that be,” it is understood by educators that are in the trenches everyday. (However, when decision makers are asked about their favorite teacher…inevitably, that teacher cared to make learning memorable and FUN!) Mobile learning facilitates these two elements in… Read the Rest»