iPad Apps for School

The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers

social studies

Play the Classic Game Oregon Trail on Your iPad

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Oregon Trail was the first game that I ever played on a computer in school. Back then we had to run it from a series of 5.25″ floppy disks. Today, students can still enjoy the Oregon Trail games just as much as I did 20+ years ago. The difference now is that students can play the games on their iPads and they wouldn’t know what to do with a floppy disk.

Oregon Trail is an iPad version of the classic game. Players move westward by overcoming obstacles like river crossings, wagon break-downs, and illnesses. To keep the journey going you need to manage your food and other supplies.

Oregon Trail American Settler picks up where Oregon Trail leaves off. In Oregon Trail American Settler you have already reached the frontier and now you need to build your settlement from scratch. As you build your settlement you need to consider which types of buildings you want to build, where to place buildings, and where to play farm plots. Of course, in order to keep yourself and your family alive you still have to deal with illnesses and other surprises.

Oregon Trail costs $0.99. Oregon Trail American Settler is free. Both games offer in-app purchases, but you can enjoy the games without making any in-app purchases. The games are appropriate for students in grade 4 (age 10) and higher.

Students Become World Explorers With This App

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European Exploration: The Age of Discovery is a free iPad app that puts students in charge of exploring the “New World.” In the game students are in charge of selecting explorers and ships to send out to the New World. Students have to manage the finances of their expeditions so that they don’t run out of money before they can return home safely.

European Exploration: The Age of Discovery provides students with historical information about the explorers that are available to lead expeditions. Some of the explorers available include Giovanni da Verrazano, Christopher Columbus, and Juan Ponce de Leon. The explorers are graded based on their navigation, cartography, and shipkeeping skills. Each explorer has a different salary which students must account for when managing the budgets of their expeditions.

The object of the game is to unveil the entire New World. To do this students draw expedition maps and send out their explorers. If the expedition is successful it will earn money that students can then parlay into financing another expedition. Successful managers of European Exploration: The Age of Discovery will be able to manage multiple expeditions simultaneously.