Today I decided to listen to one of Tony Vincent’s Learning in Hand podcasts. I listened to Episode #22: Education Apps. This link will take you to the page with the podcast on it. You can also find the show notes there which includes the links to everything he talked about. In his podcast he talked about all of the different education apps out there for iPhone, iPod, and iPad. I currently do not own an iPhone or iPad, but I have realized the benefits these devices can have in a classroom.
Tony mentioned that the apps for these devices are growing rapidly. He said as many as 700 apps are added daily! Because of this, it can seem daunting to find apps that will fit your classroom and students. In his podcast, Tony mentioned several websites that include lists of available applications for educators. On most of these pages there are also reviews of how the app worked. One of these websites is IEAR.org. Here you can click on the grade level or subject that you are looking for an app for. Most of these apps also have review to go with them. Another one of these websites is the Recess Duty blog. This websites contains 99 apps for iPod touch that are used by a middle school teacher. Macworld has a large App Guide that includes reviews of educational apps. Another website that Tony mentioned is Scribd.com. This particular website consists of a 24-page document, made by Eric Sailers, of apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch that have to do with Special Education.
In his podcast Tony talked about how he finds many educational apps by looking at tweets on Twitter. Educators tweet about apps that they have found, or are even using in their classrooms. Here are some of my favorites that Tony talked about:
The first one that I really liked is called Long Division 1.4 for iPhone. This app allows kids to solve long division, long multiplication, column subtraction, and fraction math problems. This would be a fun way to allow students to practice their math skills. A second apps that I thought was cool is called StoryKit. Here students can add text, upload drawings or images, and record themselves reading the story! This could be used as a culminating project to end a Fairy Tale reading unit. A third really interesting and useful app is iCell. With this app students can take a 3D tour of an animal, plant, or bacteria cell. They can rotate the cell, and tap on it to learn the name and read more about it. This would be excellent for 6th grade students when they are learning the parts of the cell. Learning the parts form an app would definitely be more memorable than learning it from their textbook. The final app that I thought was really good is called Read Me Stories. This app could be used with very young kids who don’t know how to read or are just learning to read. This is a talking picture book. Teachers can get 7 books during their free trial, but after that they are only 10 cents per book.
I really enjoyed learning more about these educational apps. I had no idea that there were do many for teachers and students. I can definitely see how this could enhance the learning experience for many children!
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