There are a great many things to do in starting in a new library, so I could write about lots of things, but I was asked by a teacher to explore some Apps that would be useful in his Earth/Space Science course, primarily from a productivity perspective, so I decided to use this space to do just that. I know I've done an appy post before, but I've done a little more work with apps and become a little more familiar with the pedagogy behind them, so I hope this one is a bit more focused. I also chose this medium because I'd LOVE your input: what are the best productivity apps out there? I'm going to focus on the free ones, because, well, I'm new. It might be best to promote free before asking for dollars! Here are my favorites so far:
Animoto- I like Animoto from an aesthetic perspective. It's simple and it's pretty. It pulls photos and videos from your camera roll (or allows you to take them), you can add music, and it creates a slideshow. The app I found is for the iphone, but it works in ipad as well. While it doesn't have some of the bells and whistles of some of the other apps, this app would be good for a quick and easy presentation that is primarily image based. Remember that students can pull images from the web and save to camera roll, so if you are looking for a visual representation of, for example, the lifecycle of a star, that could be done through web images, photos from your classroom of student work, etc.
Evernote Peek- Okay, I might be in love with Evernote Peek-- flashcards! Who doesn't love flashcards? I'm a nerd. I know. Anyway, this app works best with the ipad cover that can fold back. The students can make their own flashcards through Evernote (which might be the only downside-- I wish you could just make flash cards within Evernote Peek), or they can load ready to go packs, including language, music terms, periodic table, etc.
Evernote- Evernote is essentially an interactive notebook that can be used for just about anything. It can be collaborative, it can incorporate the web, camera roll, voice, etc. It also has other apps that interact with Evernote, like Evernote Peek and Skitch. It's a nice package, but seems like it could take a little bit to get used to and maybe some extra structuring from a teacher's perspective if you wanted to use it with the classroom. It might be a nice format for kids to keep their notes for a unit or more and then hand in a portfolio of their growth. It's also nice that it is cloud-based and makes their notes/classwork available anywhere.
Skitch- Skitch also works with Evernote. The notes allow you to draw/write/etc. on an existing photo, map, image, etc. What I like about Skitch is that it is interactive, metacognitive, fun, pretty, and simple. It is very self-explanatory and can really explore a student's thinking on a topic. Downside is that it doesn't seem to attach voice, so the kids would have to verbally present from their Skitch Document, which maybe isn't a downside after all.
Pinterest- Don't laugh. I know, I'm the target demographic for Pinterest-- mom of young kids, teacher, crafter, etc. etc., but I TOTALLY believe this could be great in the classroom from a curation standpoint. It hooks kids up with the larger community and gets them to see that social media is NOT ALL ABOUT talking to your friends, but that they can learn and grow from their wider community. Let me climb down off of my soapbox. In Pinterest, students can create boards for different themes, pull pins off of the web or their camera roll, sort, share, etc. What pops into my head immediately are the humanities: boards for Books and their worlds, History boards, Culinary boards, Art and Music boards. How cool would it be to break your class into groups based on topic and have them be responsible for curating, building, and sharing a board on that topic that you will cover. They can then showcase their pins throughout the unit?
Voice Thread- This is like Animoto plus voice and video. It's quick and easy, kids can work as a group and present their thoughts through various mediums. It is also great for those students who may not want to present live, but still want to get their face/voice on camera. Downside is that it is not as aesthetically pretty as Animoto, and it doesn't come with the background music options.
Show Me- I'm excited about this one. This is like screencasting with an interactive whiteboard. You can record yourself drawing on the whiteboard while talking, incorporate pictures from the camera roll or the web, and move through whiteboards like slides. What immediately pops into my head is Math-- this would be a great think aloud presentation mode for students to show their work and thought process, but they could build all sorts of presentations through this, especially with the incorporation of web images.
Doceri- This seems like a much more robust Show Me. It has the same recordable interactive whiteboard features, but with more options. It also has a more comprehensive presentation mode. This seems more professional and higher level.
Popplet- I found this app when looking for an app that would be good for graphic organizers. It allows you to create graphic notes, sort your ideas visually, link them and collaborate. There is a free Popplet lite, but I get the feeling it might be worth it to splurge for the $4.99 version. I like that you can, as someone else said, "move with the speed of your thoughts."
Science Specific Apps that Seem Interesting
Ted Talks- I love Ted talks. They are short, engaging, exhilarating (for the most part), and great for extension/enrichment. Put the kids in groups, have them find and digest a Ted talk, and then use one of the above presentation models to disseminate the information out to their peers!
Science 360- “The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Science360 for iPad provides easy access to engaging science and engineering images and video from around the globe and a news feed featuring breaking news from NSF-funded institutions” (from iTunes store description).
What else is out there that you like? What do your kids use and love? Our goal is to help kids become more aware of what's out there, get their hands dirty, and help them learn for themselves what works best for them so that when they get out there in the real world, they have their tools. This is absolutely a starter list. I'd love your input. What do you think?
