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eduPad takes 80 percent off its iTooch lineup of educational apps
eduPad is known for its iTooch line of educational apps for elementary and junior high school students. The apps have a clean, ad-free interface and extensive problem set that adheres to the Common Core Standards. They are also on sale through April 28 for 80 percent off. The iTooch series covers math, language arts, science and health for third through eighth grades. You can buy individual subjects or a multi-subject pack that is grouped by grade level. Each subject includes over 1,500 exercises to reinforce the skills students need to master that subject. With the multi-subject app, you'll get 4,500 problems that'll challenge your child throughout the school year. The iTooch apps usually cost US$9.99 each, but eduPad is offering the titles in its series for $3 or less. You can grab the individual subject apps for 99 cents and the multi-subject apps for $2.99. Links to all the discounted eduPad apps are provided below for your convenience. iTooch 3rd Grade [iOS Universal; now $2.99] iTooch 4rd Grade [iOS Universal; now $2.99] iTooch 5rd Grade [iOS Universal; now $2.99] iTooch 6th Grade Health [iOS Universal; now $0.99] iTooch 6th Grade ELA [iOS Universal; now $0.99] iTooch 6th Grade Math [iOS Universal; now $0.99] iTooch 7th Grade ELA [iOS Universal; now $0.99] iTooch 7th Grade Math [iOS Universal; now $0.99] iTooch 8th Grade ELA [iOS Universal; now $0.99] iTooch 8th Grade Math [iOS Universal; now $0.99] iTooch Music for Grade 7 and 8 [iOS Universal; now $0.99] iTooch TOEFL Prep [iOS Universal; now $0.99]
Khan Academy releases iPad app
MIT alum Salman Khan has an ambitious plan. He wants to provide anyone, anywhere with a quality education. To that end, he's created a website with over 2,700 K-12 lectures spanning math, history, science and more. Now he's bringing all this online learning to the iPad with his new Khan academy app. In keeping with Khan's philosophy of learning, the Khan Academy app and all its resources are available for free. The app lets you login to your Khan Academy account and track your progress as you work through the courses. You can also download videos and playlists for learning on the go and follow along with subtitles that'll help you navigate through each lecture. You can grab the Khan Academy app for free from the iOS App Store.
Iowa school replaces workbooks with MacBooks
The school district in Van Meter, Iowa has ditched their workbooks and replaced them with MacBooks in a four-year digital learning experiment. John Carver, Superintendent of the Van Meter school district in Iowa, has taken a bold move into the realm of digital learning. In the 2009-2010 school year, the district handed out laptops to all its seventh to twelfth grade students. The school district signed a four-year lease agreement with Apple to provide the students with MacBook laptops. The program costs about US$149,000 per year and is funded by the district's Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) and School Infrastructure Local Option (SILO) tax. It hopes to have the funds to extend this program to K-12 students by the 2012-2013 school year. Unlike other schools that plop computers on a student's desk and walk away, Carver did away with traditional paper-based learning and actively used the laptops in a new digital curriculum. The response towards the program has been enthusiastic. School board member John Seefeld was "amazed at students' attentiveness, how engaged they were and how they seemed to be learning better under the new format." Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass took a tour of the program and remarked that "after two years of exploring the capacity of the devices, the kids and teachers are learning and evolving in their own knowledge of how powerful new technology can be." Well done, Van Meter School District! May the program bring continued success.
15 Minutes of Fame: WoW goes to English class
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. Remember when we interviewed the two teachers who were injecting motivation, teamwork, and pride into at-risk students via an after-school World of Warcraft program? Educators Lucas Gillispie and Peggy Sheehy are still at it -- and this time, they've scooted the gaming back squarely into school hours with an elective language arts enrichment class for 15 middle school students. "Our kids are embarking on a Hero's Journey as they compare their own experiences in World of Warcraft to those of Bilbo Baggins in Tolkien's The Hobbit," explains Gillispie. "They're engaging in creative projects as well, such as live tweeting the events leading to Cataclysm from NPC's points-of-view (see #wowinschool hashtag). They're creating digital propaganda posters related to in-world events, writing riddles to share with players on their server, and learning leadership through their student guild." Sounds great in theory -- but we wondered what the kids themselves thought about the program. So we asked three of them, all new to the World of Warcraft, what they think about the game itself, what they feel they're getting out of the class, and whether or not the experience has given them any new perspectives on gaming.
Cinemassively: Interactive Science Lab
The days of science lab fires are over. The STEAM, or Science and Technology Enrichment for Appalachian Middle-schoolers, project lets middle school students experiment with science through Second Life. Teen Gridders that are part of the Ohio STEAM sim will be able to put on a HUD, or Heads Up Display, and receive everything they need to complete their lab work.While some educational programs, such as Global Kids and Eye4You Alliance, are open to the TG public, others, like the Appalachian K-12 program, are closed to only their students. I really enjoy seeing videos of the progress that these communities make. If you enjoyed the Interactive Science Lab video, check out the rest of their videos, or their project website!
