iPad Apps for School

The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers

science

Put a Virtual Zoo On Your Students’ iPads

by

Screen Shot 2012-12-19 at 6.17.49 PM Pocket Zoo is an iOS app that puts a virtual zoo of 51 animals on your students’ iPads and iPhones. The app lets students learn about animals by locating and tapping on them in a virtual zoo map. When a student taps on an animal it opens a picture of that animal, fun facts about that animal, and information about that animal’s habit, diet, and size. Students can also open videos and live webcam feeds featuring the animals that they select in the virtual zoo map. Live webcam feeds are not available for all of the animals.

Photo-12_19_12,-6.19.00-PM-1

Pocket Zoo could be a fun app for children of pre-K to grade 2 age. Pocket Zoo is free today (December 19) but it will probably return to regular price tomorrow ($2.99 for the iPhone version and $4.99 for iPad version).

Use the Gooru iPad App to Find Good Educational Videos and More

by

Screen Shot 2012-12-17 at 12.00.29 PM Gooru is a free service that launched earlier this year with the goal of organizing educational videos and other resources according to subject and grade level. Over the weekend Gooru launched a free iPad for that purpose too. The app is called Gooru Collections.

Gooru Collections is designed for students in grades five through twelve. Through the app students can find collections of resources for studying and learning about mathematics and science. To find some resources select science or math then choose a subject within either of those categories. Before you open a collection of resources you can preview the material to see if it contains videos, text, or links to websites. Watch a tour of Gooru Collections in the video below.

Gooru Collections is completely free to use. There are not any in-app purchases and you can use it without registering on Gooru. That said, registering on Gooru will open up extra benefits like the option to organize a shelf of your favorite resources.

Photo-12_17_12,-12.20.06-PM-1

The Periodic Table Project – An Artistic Version of the Periodic Table

by

Screen Shot 2012-12-12 at 6.15.38 PMThe Periodic Table Project is a free iPad app that puts an artistic spin on the Periodic Table of Elements. The Periodic Table Project was a global project developed by the University of Waterloo and 3M. The project gathered drawings from students around the world. Each element is represented by a student’s drawing. Click on a drawing to learn about an element. All of the standard information about the element that you would find on a standard periodic table is included in the Periodic Table Project app.

Evernote Camera Roll 20121212 182256

Information about the students whose drawings were used are included in the app. There is also an explanation of each drawing and how it represents an element.

Evernote Camera Roll 20121212 182254

This app is free. The app is appropriate for any student that needs to reference the periodic table of elements.

Turn Pictures Into 3D Models on Your iPad

by

Screen Shot 2012-12-12 at 1.59.19 PM 123D Catch is a free iPad app from Autodesk. The app makes it possible to turn your pictures into a 3D model that you can manipulate on your iPad. To create a model with the app select a physical object that you can photograph with your iPad. Then take a series of pictures of that object as you either walk around it or rotate it slowly as you take pictures of it. Then select the best images from those that you took (20+ images works best) to let Autodesk process and turn into a 3D model for you. Completed 3D models can be shared to the Autodesk community where others can view and use them.

123D Catch could be a great app for creating virtual manipulatives to use in a math or science lesson. The app could also be used to create 3D models of interesting landmarks that you visit during a vacation, but that your students would otherwise only see in 2D pictures.

mzl.kxodglzp.480x480-75

A few tips about using 123D Catch based on things that I messed up the first time I tried the app. First, make sure your object is stationary when you take pictures of it. I tried to make a 3D model of my dog, but he kept wiggling which made many of my images usable. Second, if you do not capture pictures from all sides of an object your 3D model will look like it was cut in half. Third, processing of images can take up to ten minutes depending on your wi-fi connection and how many images you have. Click here for Autodesk’s official tutorials.

123D Catch is a free app. Students of all ages can access and manipulate the public models. To create a model you do have to have an email address.

Germ Blaster Offers a Fun Way to Learn About Germs

by

Germ Blaster is a fun iPad and iPhone game developed by Rice University’s Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning. By playing Germ Blaster students learn about six types of pathogens and the “weapons” used to fight them. Before starting the game students review each pathogen and what makes it different from the others. Then they review the methods used to fight those pathogens.

In the game students fight off the pathogens by selecting the appropriate weapon to kill the approaching pathogens. If they get stuck and can’t remember which weapons fight which pathogens, students can pause the game to look up information about the pathogens.

This game is appropriate for grades 5 (age 11) and higher.

Thanks to Jen Deyenberg for suggesting Germ Blasters.