iPad Apps for School

The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers

ipad apps

SimpleSort Continents – A Geography Game

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Screen Shot 2013-04-17 at 12.32.44 PMSimpleSort: Continents is one of two nice geography apps from Kids and Beyond. SimpleSort: Continents a game in which students review physical and political geography facts then test their knowledge by dragging objects to the continents that they are representative of. For example, if students see an American Buffalo they need to drag it to North America. The concept and the visuals are not unique, but SimpleSort: Continents makes up for that shortcoming by providing clear narration for each part of the app. From the introductory screen through the end of every game students will never be stuck wondering what to do next. Students can tap on any object they see in the app to hear some information about the object. For example, if a student taps on a picture of the Galapagos Islands they’ll hear a short bit of information about them.

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Some students may benefit from using the Map My Globe app. Map My Globe is a very simple puzzle application on which students drag continents and oceans into their proper places. The names of each continent and ocean is read to the students.

Students Will Enjoy Learning Geography on Geography Drive USA

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Screen Shot 2013-04-03 at 11.06.13 AM Geography Drive USA is an iPad app that elementary and middle school students will enjoy using. The app challenges students to drive their virtual cars to each state in the United States. The students move from state to state by correctly answering questions about each state that they visit. Students earn money for each correct answer. That money is then used to buy fuel for their cars and customize their cars. Students can also win trophies for accomplishments throughout the game. The game has more than 750 questions about state and national geography. Students will find questions about physical and political geography. There are some history questions mixed in too. I started playing Geography Drive USA this morning and had to force myself to put it down to write this post.

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In addition to the main game Geography Drive USA contains four mini-games and a visitor center. The visitor center contains information that students can use to answer questions when they get stuck. In the visitor center students can learn things like state capitals, state flags, state postal abbreviations, and the size of each state. The mini-games in Geography Drive USA ask students about state capitals, shapes, spellings, and flags.

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Geography Drive USA costs $3.99 USD. The app does not have any advertising, doesn’t require student names, email addresses, or passwords. The app doesn’t have any in-app purchases. When you buy the app you buy everything that your students need to enjoy the app to its fullest.

Disclosure: in December 2012 I received a promo code to try Geography Drive USA.

With Book Creator 2.5 Released With a Fantastic New Sharing Option

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Book Creator is currently my favorite iPad app for creating multimedia books on your iPad. The app costs $4.99 (less with volume purchasing), but it is well worth it. The latest updates to Book Creator allows you to export your books to ePub 3.0 format. The exported file can be opened an read in the Chrome web browser using the free Readium browser extension. This is a great option as it allows a parent who doesn’t have an iPad at home to view his or her child’s work at home.

Another feature added to Book Creator 2.5 is the option to take pictures and videos from within the app. Version 2.5 introduced new page format options including a full screen format.

These new features in Book Creator require iOS 6.

Idea Sketch – A Nice Mind Mapping App

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Screen Shot 2013-03-22 at 9.12.06 AM Idea Sketch is a simple app for creating mind maps on your iPad. One of the features of Idea Sketch that stands out is the option to flip back and forth between a web format and an outline format. This makes the app a good choice for students who occasionally prefer to a linear outline instead of a web layout.

Creating a mind map on Idea Sketch is a simple process. To get started tap the “Ideas” button then tap the “+” button. All mind maps start on a blank screen that you fill up by tapping anywhere to add a text bubble. You can change the colors and sizes of each bubble. To add a new connected bubble just tap, hold, and drag a bubble into place. To switch to a linear outline format tap the “list” icon in the upper, right corner of the screen. Tap that icon again to switch back to the web format. Completed mind maps can be exported as images or shared via email.

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Idea Sketch is available for free. An in-app purchase give you extra features like extra colors, icons, and additional export options.

FunSlides HD – Create HD Video Slideshows On Your iPad

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Screen Shot 2013-03-18 at 9.45.10 PM FunSlides HD is a nice iPad app ($0.99 USD) for taking your pictures and putting them into a video slideshow. You can import pictures from your iPad’s camera roll or take new pictures with the FunSlides HD app. After adding pictures to your project you can add text to each one of them. Once your images are arranged in order and your text has been added, insert the transitions you would like between images. Finally, before publishing your project add a sound track. Your sound track can be one of the stock tracks in FunSlides HD or it can be a file that you import from your iPad. Completed projects can be saved to your iPad, uploaded to YouTube, or shared on Facebook.

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FunSlides HD will probably remind some users of Animoto. The key difference between the two is that FunSlides HD allows you to add as much text as you like to each image. Like Animoto, FunSlides HD is nice app that students can use to quickly create short videos about a field trip, a topic they’ve researched, or to tell a story.