There are thousands of iPad apps…so which ones are good for education? That question isn't always easy to answer, but I hope to help make it a little more clear for you. The ultimate goal is to select apps at each of the different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (below, left), as well as striving to reach the upper levels of the SAMR model (below, right). As you scroll down, you will find some great examples of apps that can be used in classrooms.
Google (remembering/Understanding)
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Google is a very powerful tool. Students can use Google in all subject areas to research topics from world war II to quadratic functions. You can see in the example on the left, history and math are combined to search for the history of mathematics. Google falls into the lowest two levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, Remembering and Understanding, as students can use it to help them remember information or understand specific concepts. Google lands in the Augmentation level of the SAMR model, as it is an improved and more efficient substitute for books or encyclopedias.
Despite Twitter being known as a social media site that people only use for recreation, there are variety of ways it can be used in an educational setting. Depending on the subject area, teachers can have students translate tweets into different languages, paraphrase a book, poem, or text using 140 characters, convince someone on a topic based purely on tweets for evidence, or create a fake but accurate Twitter profile for a historical or literary figure. The possibilities are endless! You can see in the example on the left, updates of happenings in a math class are displayed via tweets. SAMR Model: Augmentation |
Educreations (Applying)
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Educreations is a unique interactive whiteboard and screencasting tool that's simple, powerful, and fun to use. Annotate, animate, and narrate nearly any type of content as you explain any concept. Teachers can create short instructional videos and share them instantly with students, or ask students to show what they know and help friends learn something new. As you can see in the example, Educreations is a great app for math, as students can work through a problem and even record what they are thinking as they proceed.
SAMR Model: Modification Popplet is a combination between a sticky note, a bulletin board, and a multimedia library. Whatever you would write on a sticky note or tack on a bulletin board, you can put on a Popplet. You can even upload images and videos. You create Popplets on a Wall. A Popplet is the ‘sticky note’ that contains the video, image, text, and/or link. You can have as many Popplets as you’d like on a wall. There are many ways to use Popplet in a math classroom, including sorting activities, matching activities, mind maps, word walls, and brainstorming. The example on the left shows how you can use a mind map for vocabulary development. SAMR Model: Modification |
Roambi Analytics (Evaluating)
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Roambi Analytics is a stunning app that transforms data from Microsoft Excel, HTML, and Google Docs into rich and interactive visualizations designed for iPads. This is a great app to help students evaluate data. Roambi Analytics is especially useful in a math classroom, where students can research, create, and analyze specific numerical information. The app allows students to see the data displayed in ways that make much more sense than a list or even a spreadsheet.
SAMR Model: Augmentation With Story Creator you can easily create beautiful story books containing photos, videos, text, and audio all in one gorgeous collection. Story Creator truly brings your best stories to life and easily allows you to retell and share your most memorable moments. Although story creator seems to be more applicable to an English classroom, there are still ways to use this app in a math classroom. For example, students can create a story with math terms as characters, such as "Mr. Addition" or "Mrs. Subtraction," to help them learn more about certain concepts. SAMR Model: Modification |
APP FLow - Right triangles
At home: Students will use the Google app on their ipads to do a little research about triangles, specifically right triangles – Where do right triangles show up in our everyday lives? In what careers are right triangle ideas used? What other interesting facts, stories, ideas, etc. can you find about right triangles?
At home: Students will post at least one important/interesting thing they found about right triangles in the real world to Linoit. These ideas will be discussed as a whole class at the start of class the next day. In class: Students will explore the Geoboard app on their ipads. Students will be instructed to create different sized right triangles. Students should attempt to find the area of the right triangles they create by counting squares inside of each triangle. Lastly, students will use the app Explain Everything to show what they have learned. Students will be required to create a short video on how to find the area of a triangle. |