Designed for learning in the classroom or in independent student work, these apps focus on 21st Century skills such as creative thinking, problem-solving, science, technology, engineering, math, and the maker movement.
Free, Web-based, iOS/Android…..Tynker is an app that helps young children learn to code. Using appealing graphics and functional tools, students learn to create interactive stories, games, and animations. The company provides a feature rich website, including lesson plans aligned with Common Core and a Tynker Workshop that helps children learn and enjoy the fundamentals of programming.
PAID, iOS/Android, Mac Desktop….Dragon Box provides a game-based, learner-centered approach to teaching basic linear equation solving skills, by solving puzzles, in an intuitive, fun, and effective) way. Each student requires his/her own version of the app. Dragon Box incorporates the following educational premises: feedback should be immediate; feeling mastery is key to staying motivated; challenges should match each learner’s level of mastery; students learn at different paces; learning should be assessed in a formative, non-intrusive way; and discovery learning is much more effective than instructional-based teaching.
Free, Web-based….Scratch helps students (especially younger students) learn to code using simple objects and commands. It is also a programming language and online community where anyone can create their own interactive stories, games, and animations -- and share their creations online with others. In the process of designing and programming Scratch projects, young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.
Free, iOS…..While learning about Science, Geography, Music, and Design, students create, and share challenges that combine the safe Internet resources with touch screen interactions. Within their Wonderbox account, students watch curated videos by theme, take pictures, draw, create, and share. Challenges include background information and provide guidelines and prompts when needed. Students can watch videos together then complete whole class, small group, or partner challenges--then present their work, or solve challenges independently and share their solution with others.
Gamester Mechanic.... Free, Paid; Web (Mac & Windows)…..Students learn about games by designing their own with this fun resource that focuses on the art of visual design rather than on programming. Gamestar Mechanic gives kids clear goals while promoting, exploration, experimentation, and discovery. Missions provide students with an ongoing stream of content that deepens their learning, and the written guides offers lesson plans that learners can also follow independently. Management tools allow teachers to assign projects, curate featured games, view student progress and track their work, and manage class profiles from kids' workshops.
Trello Free, iOS, Android…..TinyTap is a tablet app for students (and teachers!) to create, share, and play interactive learning games and is a great introduction to the “maker movement” for elementary students. Users create customizable interactive learning games using any picture from the device’s camera roll, then voice record questions based on the image(s). The simple interface makes creating and playing games easy and enjoyable while building skills in digital creation and using and applying technology. The website includes a market place for downloading games created by Tiny Tap or other users, with most games customizable for almost any learning level.
Elements 4D .... Free, iPad, Android....The Elements 4D app offers a unique, engaging, and fun way to learn about real-life chemistry. Using augmented reality and providing both and educational and game-like experience, learners use either paper or wood blocks that are inscribed with the symbols of 36 elements from the periodic table, to instantly transform a simple, inanimate object into dynamic, dimensional, 4D representations of each element. The website provides chemistry-related lesson plans and supports curriculum integration from elementary to high school levels.
Instagrok..... Free for educators/students, Web-based, iPad, Chrome…..instaGrok is an interactive, visual search engine for learners. Type in a search term and it both finds quality educational resources on that topic, and also presents the information in an engaging visual way. Almost like a mind map, instaGrok displays the context of any topic as a dynamic, visual web of key facts, important concepts and relationships. Students navigate the site based on their own interests, adjust information difficulty level based on their knowledge, and personalize the display by pinning artifacts to it. Auto-generated quizzes provide active recall and practice to support learning. The site helps students develop research, sythensis, and curation skills with built-in journals to help students stay organized and allow teachers to track students’ progress.
Book Creator for iPad: Free/Paid; iOS (iPad)….. This app supports students and teachers in making professional looking, fully functional ebooks. Using Book Creator on an iPad, it is simple to create beautiful picture books, comic books, photo books, journals, textbooks and more. Creators write their storyline, writing their own text and adding photos, images, video, music, drawings made on screen, and can even record their own voice. Books can be sent via email, shared over the Cloud, and printed or exported as a PDF. Teacher can assign “storybook” projects that support demonstration of knowledge through personalization, creativity, and student voice and choice.
Spent: Free; Web-based….. Spent is an online game that plays a bit like a text based, choose your own adventure game from the eighties or nineties. In Spent, students play the role of somebody who is unemployed and homeless who must find a new job and get their lives back on track. Students gain insights into the social justice issue of poverty while also learning critical thinking and problem solving skills as they make decisions throughout the game. Spent supports an important part of developing critical thinking skills by encouraging students to think with empathy and to consider the views, experiences, and perspectives of others before drawing conclusions, while also teaching concepts such as planning, summarizing and synthesizing information, determining the difference between good and bad information. See http://playspent.org/html/
Prodigy: Free/Paid; Web-based, iOS… Prodigy is a game-based app for practicing and mastering math concepts both for student use at school and at home. The application's highly engaging activities are fully aligned with numerous standards and curricula (e.g., Common Core, Ontario, TEKS, MAFS), and provides automatic, embedded (in-game) formative, diagnostic, and summative assessments assessment which also places students in appropriate (grade level) activities. Reports are provided in “real-time.
Esri Story Maps: Free; Web-based... Esri Story Maps is a free, simple, yet powerful way to inform, engage, and inspire others by telling stories that involve maps, places, locations, or geography. They make it easy for you to harness the power of maps to tell your story. In the web app, students or teachers can combine beautiful maps with narrative text, striking images, and multimedia, including video. The stories can be used in project-based learning to tell about a location, a point in time, or even where students went over summer vacation.
History in Motion: Free; Web-based... This map creator allows students and teacher to tie together historical websites, blogs, maps, and videos with text, images, video, audio, historical maps, and animation, to tell a story about time gone by (or even last week!). The app helps users create and share location-based stories as animated (historical) scenarios without having requiring any programming, graphics, animation, or digital cartography skills. Students share their work with others, and explore and describe history using rich multi-media resources.
Mathalicious: Free/Paid (pay what you want); Web-based Mathalicious provides real-world lessons for middle and high school math instruction, focused on critical thinking skills aligned to Common Core state standards. Lessons support inquiry-based teaching and challenge students to think critically about the world. A unique feature of mathalicious lessons is that they explore the math behind real-world topics, covering topics from everyday life including sports and shopping to the odds of finding life on other planets, supporting meaningful conversations between teachers and students. Lesson strike a balance between supporting curiosity and enhancing rigorous mathematical thinking.
Gizmos: Free; iOS ExploreLearning's Gizmos offers math and science simulations for grades 3-12, correlated to state math and science standards, Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, and leading textbooks. Teachers can supplement and enhance their instruction with Gizmos' interactive visualizations that support students in manipulating key variables, generating and testing hypotheses, and engaging in extensive “what-if” experimentation to develop a more thorough understanding of challenging concepts.
The Human Body: Paid; IOS As a compliment to elementary science and health studies lessons, "The Human Body" offers an animated peek inside a model of the human body. Students interact with different body systems and can “feed” the body and watch food pass through the digestive tract, make the heart beat faster, or view an organ's reaction to external events. They can record their thoughts and reactions by making audio comments on pages. The Human Body offers 7 models highlighting tissue structures such as bones, the heart, and intestines and an 8th model can be purchased separately. Teachers can use this tool to pique student interest, supplement class instruction, and potentially increase learning and retention through the interactions.
Anatomy 4D: Free; Android For junior high or high-school students, Anatomy 4D showcases the human body by providing students with an interactive 4D experience. Designed for health and science learning, Anatomy 4D uses augmented reality to take students on a tour inside the human body, revealing interactions between different body systems. Students simply scan a free printed or saved image to watch the 4D experience come to life. Teachers can create quizzes using tools within the app and view students performance from the built-in database.