iPad Apps for School

The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers

space

Kibo 360 – Explore the Japanese Experiment Module On the ISS

by

Screen Shot 2014-02-04 at 1.48.55 PM Kibo 360 is a free iPad app from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The app takes you on a virtual 360 degree tour of the Japanese Experiment Module on the International Space Station. You can use the app in “mission mode” or “free mode.” Mission Mode offers a guided tour of module while the free mode leaves it up to you decide what you want to explore. I preferred the free mode as it allowed me to tilt my iPad to move around the module. In either mode you will see red circles throughout the module. Tap the circle to learn about the piece of pictured equipment.

Evernote Camera Roll 20140204 134742

Kibo 360 could be a fun app for elementary school or middle school students to use to learn a little bit about what astronauts are doing on the International Space Station.

Cosmic Cubs Storymaker for Kids

by

Screen Shot 2013-12-20 at 6.34.31 PM Cosmic Cubs Storymaker is an iPad app that elementary school students can use to create short stories about space. Cosmic Storymaker provides a book layout to which students can add page backgrounds, clip art characters, and speech bubbles. Students drag pre-written words and sentences to each speech bubble on the pages they create. All of the pre-written text is related to space. Completed stories are saved in the app.

Evernote Camera Roll 20131220 184715

Cosmic Cubs Storymaker is available in a free version and a paid version. The paid version (currently $0.99) offers more background images, more clip art, and more text. I wasn’t impressed enough by the graphics in the free version to feel inclined to buy the premium version.

Evernote Camera Roll 20131220 184712

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

by

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.

Evernote Camera Roll 20131203 082749

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.

3 iPad Apps Students Can Use to Explore Stars and Planets Through Augmented Reality

by

Screen Shot 2013-03-03 at 10.34.01 PMGoogle Sky is one of my favorite Android apps, but unfortunately it is not available for iPads so I set out find an alternative to Google Sky to use on my iPad. I found three that I think are worth noting. All three of these apps use your location (enable location based services in your iPad’s settings) to help you identify the stars and planets viewable from where you are standing with your iPad.

The developers of Go Sky Watch Planetarium calls it an “astronomy star guide.” The app displays the stars and planets that are viewable with the naked eye from wherever you are standing at the moment. The app even tries to show the relative brightness of objects to help you identify them when you look up at the night sky. You can also use the app to search for the location of a star, planet, or constellation and see it on a map of the night sky. A demo of the app can be seen in the video below (warning, the background music borders on annoying).

Like the other apps in this list SkyView for iPad uses your location to show you the stars, planets, and satellites that are viewable from your location. Point your iPad’s camera at the sky and SkyView will lay a map of the stars over what you’re actually seeing. Outlines of the constellations are included in the overlay to help you identify the objects that you should be seeing. If you want to know what you will be able to see on a future night, just change the date and SkyView will show you what you will be able to see on that date.

Star Tracker HD is the most expensive app on this list ($3.99 USD, the other apps have free versions to try) but for me it was the easiest of the apps to navigate. The options menus are clear and easy to find and adjusting my location (my location setting was a bit off, but it always is at home) was easy to do too. Like the other apps in this list you can point your iPad to the sky to see a map of the stars and planets placed over what you’re actually looking at with your naked eyes.

Photo-3_3_13,-10.31.37-PM-1

A Nice Guide to the Solar System to Put On Your Students’ iPads

by

Screen Shot 2013-01-20 at 7.40.58 PM Interactive Minds: Solar System is an iPad app designed to help students learn about the size of the solar system and to help learn a little history of space exploration.

There is a free version and a paid version of Interactive Minds: Solar System. The free version contain seventeen pages of basic information about the solar system. One of the highlights of the free version is an interactive comparison of the size of planets and moons in our solar system. Students can select the planets and moons that they want to compare. Students can also compare the size of the planets and the moons to the sun. Another nice feature of the app is the embedded video clips of both simulations and real footage from space.

Photo-1_20_13,-7.33.23-PM-1

The paid version of Interactive Minds: Solar System contains forty pages of information. Included in those pages are additional simulations and more in-depth information about the topics of gravity, dwarf planets, and planetary seasons. Both apps are suitable for elementary school. They’re probably too basic for students older than about eleven or so. I recommend trying the free version of the app before buying the full version.

Photo-1_20_13,-7.33.23-PM-2