iPad Apps for School

The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers

Physics

Truss Me – An App for Designing and Testing Weight-bearing Structures

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Screen Shot 2013-12-11 at 12.02.54 PM Truss Me is an iPad app that students can use to design and test simple weight-bearing structures. Truss Me can be used in “challenge” mode or in “free play” mode. The challenge mode contains fifteen activities in which students are awarded points for strength and efficiency of their structures. For example, if a structure holds the weight but uses too many parts it doesn’t receive as many points as a structure using fewer parts while supporting the same weight. Structures that won’t work at all fall apart.

Truss Me is a nice iPad app that could be used as part of a simple physics lesson. I would like to see the app offer more instruction to students in terms of why a particular structure design is better or worse than another.

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Simple Physics is a similar app that you might also want to try.

Both apps in this post are currently priced at $1.99

Build and Launch Rockets with NASA’s Rocket Science 101 App

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rocket_science Rocket Science 101 is a free iPad app offered by NASA. The app is designed to help students understand how rockets work and understand the differences between the four types of rockets most frequently used by NASA. In Rocket Science 101 students can build all four rockets in a jigsaw-like activity then virtually launch their rockets. When the rockets are launched students see the timing of each stage of the launch from surface to orbit.

After playing with the four types of rockets students can try their hands at matching rockets to real NASA missions. In the challenges students read about a NASA mission then have to select the rocket that can carry the payload and travel the distance required to complete the mission.

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Rocket Science 101 could be a good app for students in grades five through eight to use to begin to understand some basic physics concepts associated with space exploration.

Simple Physics – Engineering Challenges on Your iPad

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Screen Shot 2013-06-30 at 12.52.54 PM Simple Physics is an iPad app that presents users with fun and challenging engineering problems. The app has twelve challenges that progress in difficulty as you move through the app. The premise of each challenge is the same. The challenge is to create a structure like a bridge or staircase that can support a given amount of weight. You’re given a budget for materials for each structure and you have to stay under that budget. When your structure is complete, test it to find out if it will work.

I found myself hooked on Simple Physics and wanted to work through all of the challenges in one sitting, but I couldn’t do it. Students will probably find themselves in the same situation. One of the things that makes the app good for students is that if they try to use virtual building materials that are too big, too small, or too weak they will see that immediately as they build and test their structures.

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Simple Physics currently costs $1.99