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Posts Tagged ‘surprisingly educational apps’

Surprisingly Educational: Part 4 – Episode 22

23 Mar

This is a supplement to “Appy Hours 4 You” Blog Talk Radio Show: Episode 22– “Surprisingly Educational Apps: Part 4“. In this episode we featured multiple edutainment apps that that at first glance might not appear educational. For each free app we shared multiple integration ideas that span across content areas and grade levels. Check out our other installments of “Surprisingly Educational Apps1”, “Surprisingly Educational Apps 2“, and “Surprisingly Educational Apps 3“.

 

What's Your 6 Word Bio? using Motivational Poster app

This week we discussed the following free apps:

  1. Visual Poet (see their gallery)
  2. TypeDrawing for FREE (see examples in Math, More Math, Language, and their gallery)
  3. For All Seasons (get For All Seasons on your Mac or PC)
  4. Sketchbook Express & SketchBook MobileX
  5. Bloom*
  6. Create-O-Mat
  7. Fotolr Photo Studio HD & Fotolr Photo Studio 
  8. Painting with Time
  9. Painting with Time: Climate Change
  10. Mad Lips
  11. Political Time Machine (was FREE at the time of our notes)
  12. Motivational Poster (was FREE at time of episode)
  13. VidRhythm (See iChallenge details below).

 

Stream this week’s episode or download it in iTunes directly.

Listen to internet radio with Techchef4u on Blog Talk Radio

 
“Appy Hours 4 U” iChallenge: We really want VidRhythm to be considered “Surprisingly Educational” – we LOVE this app and find it to be intensely engaging! However, we have been unable to assign some sort of core classroom integration to the app. Thus, “Appy Hours 4 U” will award a $10 iTunes Gift Card to the best user submission for how VidRhythm can be used instructionally and purposefully in a core classroom. Leave a Comment Below: Include your name, contact email, and idea for how the app can be used instructionally in the iClassroom. We will choose the best submission and announce the winner on our April 5th episode and in the TechChef4U blog.

 
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Posted in Appy Hour Show Recaps, iPad

 

Mind-Boggling

21 Mar

After setting up iPads for each of the Math teachers at Krueger Middle School, I met with two teachers in particular (Mrs. Vela and Mrs. Trevino) to review a few of the district policies involved with the iPad and explore some of the 50+ FREE Math apps that I had loaded on the devices.

Mind-Boggling Integration using Visual Poet

While perusing the available apps, they had inquired if it was possible to get Boggle loaded. Intrigued…I inquired as to how they intended to use the app with their Math students. Had to share their app-tastic ideas and a few that I added:

  1. Probability of choosing a vowel or a consonant.
  2. Solve proportions based on their scores (e.g. if you found 12 words in 3 minutes, how many could you find in 4 minutes?)
  3. Calculate the percentage of words you discovered (e.g. 6 words out of 107 possible is what %) or calculate the number of words you would need to receive a passing score.
  4. Set up a problem to solve for difference in score or percentage of change (e.g. you found 12 out of 107 words on the first trial and 15/125 in the next trial) playing the same game or a different game (users have the option to replay with the same letters).
  5. Calculate the Central Tendency of the class’s scores (e.g. mode, range, median, and mean).
  6. If students are playing the same game or replaying the same game within a group, determine what the most popular words chosen were. (Each student could play individually, set the game to replay and have the next student replay with the same arrangement of letters.)
  7. If students are playing different games, they could hypothesize how certain arrangements of letters may be easier to form and locate words with than others based on their scores for each game.
  8. Have students create an infographic (see examples of EDU infographics) with all of the data they have collected.

 
Know of any other FREE game apps that lend themselves to being used in mathematics or another content area, please share…

Check out other Math iLessons, iLesson involving probability, and App-tastic Mathematics Part 1 and Part 2 on “Appy Hours 4 U“.

 

 
2 Comments

Posted in iPad, Math

 

Gratitude & App-reciation

20 Feb

During our TCEA 2012 workshops and seminars, Yolanda Barker and I handed out cards with promo codes on them for the following apps. I would first like to say that we do not endorse apps or products that we do not APP-SOLUTELY LOVE and USE. We would feature and mention the apps regardless of their appy donation(s). That being said, I would like to take a moment and thank the app developers for their gracious donations to our TCEA 2012 participants. I know everyone APP-RECIATED the schwag.

App-reciation Collage created with Turbo Collage app

 

  1. Puppet Pals Director’s Pass: This app is a main staple in the techchef4u kitchen and can be utilized to create animated videos to support any content area at any grade level. (See Samples).
  2. To me By me: This “surprisingly educational” app allows users to write a letter to their future self to be delivered on a specific date. The app is perfect to practice letter-writing and goal-setting.
  3. Tacky Wales Create: This app is fantastic to teach parts of speech and creative writing. (See Samples).
  4. iCardSort: This app is a MUST for any classroom. It can be used in multiple settings (e.g. individual, cooperative pairs, small groups, stations, whole group) and has so much functionality (users can customize the background and decks in a variety of ways as well as wirelessly beam/blast decks to other users) and versatility (can be used in multiple content areas and grade levels). (See Samples).
  5. Explain Everything: This is by far the best paid app for screen-casting! You can import documents and presentations from Dropbox and Evernote and then annotate and narrate over them. Explain Everything also offers multiple export options that do not require logins! (See Sample).
  6. La Di Da: Created by the makers of Songify, this app allows users to speak a selection and transform it into a song. Clearly “surprisingly educational“, users can practice foreign language, speeches and soliloquies, and create innovative media to support any content area’s project. (See Samples).
  7. Root-1: Root-1 donated the cool “Begin Your Quest” eco-friendly shopping bags and have created the “surprisingly educational” app, StoryLines for Schools. The app is a modern day telephone game. Users choose a vocabulary word or quote or generate their own, pass the device to another student who must draw a representation of the word/quote, and pass it to yet another student who must decipher what the drawing is. The app can be used to support vocabulary, themes, events, and concepts in multiple content areas. Root-1 also makes a few other wonderfully free and educational apps: Word Joust K-5, Word Joust 6-8, xWords, and Word Kung Fu in beta (coming soon).
  8. Inspiration Diagrams: Inspiration Diagrams donated an iPad cover for each of our 3 workshops. I had the pleasure of being a beta tester for Inspiration Diagrams. The Lite version will be released in March and the full in April. The possibilities for support and integration of the writing process are endless. The current version of the app has 11 templates ranging from Cause and Effect and Book Report to Fiction Reading Notes and Chronology. The app still mimics Inspiration software in the outline and diagram views but boasts new features such as Send to Dropbox and iTunes. I am very eager to see what the final product will look like.
  9. Matt Barker: This is Yolanda Barker’s husband. He graciously donated his CD to our participants. While his music is copyright free and he welcomes those who seek to modify and integrate it into their own projects, I am sure he would love to hear how it is being used in the classroom or other settings (share your thoughts with him). Matt is also the artist behind “appy hours 4 u” intro, outro, and voice over and plays live at a few local hangouts in San Antonio.
  10. Coach’s Eye: This was a late edition to our schwag. Coach’s Eye is from the makers of ScreenChomp and Camtastia and offers countless classroom integration possibilities. The name is a bit misleading as it was originally created for coach’s to instantly review and analyze their player’s videos. The app allows users to record or import video, slow it down, narrate and annotate over it, and even export it! Imagine recording and reviewing a science lab, public speaking event or debate, or even  weather patterns on a field trip.

 

Please give these people and app developers a nice round of APP-LAUSE! Thanks Again!

 

 
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Posted in iPad

 
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