There's An App For That...

While I was briefly thumbing through the App Store looking for a version of my favorite childhood video game, Centipede, I came across a crapload of Apps that I think my students would be able to use for educational purposes.

Math
Of the teachers who are most skeptical about going paperless, it's the math teachers. Rightly so, because how will students write out the answers to their homework problems?? I don't have an answer for that unless there's an online site or pad/phone app that will allow you to draw, save, and send... Until we make an ipad-sized Smartboard, algebra students can review basics and hone their foundation with the Algebra Touch, or graph their parabolas with this free graphing calculator.

FlashCards
I have pointed my kids to these apps to make flashcards since they can't turn in paper index cards anymore. There are very basic flashcard apps like this one: Flascards+. Flashcards++ allows you to theoretically download cards from Quizlet, which would be incredibly helpful to some of my students. There's a "lite" version. I'd try that before spending the $4 on it. The same offerings are available from this app, Flashcards Deluxe, and it has a "lite" version of it as well. Dang, just do an App Store search for "Flashcards," and you'll find a bunch of stuff to choose from.


Science
If you are working on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and Stephen Hawking is your best friend, the Atomium Periodic Table is for you. iElements is a cool little app that is free. It gives you all of the scientific number stuff PLUS pictures and information about each element.

English
Now, you know you can get lots of the books that you read in school at the iTunes audiobook store. There are also books inside of the iBook app as well. But what about stuff like grammar? There apps for practicing and reference! Grammar Guide is a basic reference app. Grammar Up is much more specific.

History
You can find the US Constitution in an app. This historical documents app was also pretty cool.

But while I was poking around, I also noticed more and more textbook companies (like McGraw-Hill) creating apps as ancillary materials for their textbooks. Notice that in this app, all of the McGraw Hill texts can be accessed with one app, and the app contains ancillary material that runs with the information in the textbook. Wave of the future? Most certainly.