18. Education

Blogging for this Thing:  Use at least one of these apps and write a blog post about what you think about the app and how you may be able to use it personally or professionally. If you know of another app that would fit under this Thing, tell us about it in your blog, too.

Duolingo is on my phone and I am using it to learn Spanish.

I really wish Khan Academy would get an official app for Android. I have it on my computer and think a mobile app would be handy.

TED talks app is also on my phone. Friends in education are often sending me links to TED talks. It is handy to view these in the app so I am able to save them in my favorites if I want them bookmarked to re-watch.

Because of Thing 18 I have downloaded Quizlet so I can use the flashcards made by others to practice my Spanish

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3D Brain: Apple / Android

Use your touch screen to rotate and zoom around 29 interactive structures. Discover how each brain region functions, what happens when it is injured, and how it is involved in mental illness. Each detailed structure comes with information on functions, disorders, brain damage, case studies, and links to modern research.

10monkeys Multiplication: Apple / Android

Free the trapped monkeys by using your multiplication skills. Bo’s ten monkey friends are in trouble – they are trapped. To free all the monkeys you need determination to master times tables from 2 to 10. 10monkeys Multiplication is a math learning education app aimed for children, and builds up multiplication skills in a fun environment. Available in English, Suomi, Deutsch, and Espanol.

Advanced English Dictionary & Thesaurus: Apple /Android

WordNet® is a large lexical database of English with up to 140,000 entries and more than 1.4 million words, developed by the Cognitive Science Laboratory at Princeton University.
Instead of following the standard dictionary format, the WordNet dictionary is organized with an innovative and convenient approach. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are grouped into sets of cognitive synonyms, interlinked by means of conceptual-semantic and lexical relations. In addition to the straightforward definition the dictionary shows how each word is linked to other words in terms of synonyms, opposites and similar words, but also hyponyms and hyperlinks within the group.

B-Rhymes Dictionary: Apple / Android

B-Rhymes describes itself as being: a rhyming dictionary that’s not stuck up about what does and doesn’t rhyme. It gives you words that sound good together even though they don’t technically rhyme as well as regular rhymes.

colAR Mix: Apple / Android

Augmented reality technology can sometimes seem like a gimmick, but there’s huge scope for it to be used in fun and educational ways in children’s apps. This falls into the fun category: you print outlines from the colAR website, get your children to colour them in, then point your smartphone’s camera at the paper to turn them into 3D objects. In-app purchases for additional pages to color.

Duolingo: Apple / Android

On many “best of” lists, Duolingo is a free app to help you learn Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, and English. Totally fun. Totally free. Use it by yourself or compete with friends. This would be great help for students trying to learn a different language.

Fooducate: Apple / Android

Fooducate is marketed as a weight loss app, but what it does is educate you about food. Scan in a product and find nutrition information and foods that would be better for you. Great way to learn about what’s in the food we eat. There are over 200,000 unique items added to the database and it keeps growing.

Google Earth: Apple / Android

Fly around the planet with a swipe of your finger with Google Earth. Explore distant lands or reacquaint yourself with your childhood home. Search for cities, places, and businesses. Browse layers including roads, borders, places, photos and more. Visit the Earth Gallery to find exciting maps such as real-time earthquakes, planes in flight, hiking trails, city tours, and more. Integrated Google Maps Street View allows you to explore the world at street level.

Khan Academy (unofficial): Android only

There is no official Khan Academy app for Android, but this unofficial one works pretty well. Access many of Khan Academy’s library of videos covering a massive number of topics, including K-12 math, science topics such as biology, chemistry, and physics, and even the humanities with playlists on finance and history.

MyScript Calculator: Apple / Android

There are a lot of calculator apps, and your device may come with some, but have you used the calculator where you can write the equation with your finger or a stylus? MyScript Calculator allows you to write out your equations and it gives you the answer. It’s such an easy way to do quick equations, though it also does pretty advanced ones, too.

Project Noah: Apple / Android

Project Noah is an award-winning mobile application that helps nature lovers discover local wildlife and aspiring citizen scientists contribute to current research projects. Noah stands for networked organisms and habitats. Think of Project Noah as a tool people can use to document and learn about their natural surroundings and as a technology platform research groups can use to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere.

Science 360: Apple / Android

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Science360 provides easy access to engaging science and engineering images and video from around the globe and a news feed featuring breaking news from NSF-funded institutions. Content is either produced by NSF or gathered from scientists, colleges and universities, and NSF science and engineering centers.

Socrative: Apple Teacher & Apple Student / Android Teacher & Android Student

Socrative brings smart clickers, student response and ease of use to a whole new level. Engage the entire classroom with educational exercises and games while capturing student results in real-time. Interact with the data to further student understanding in the moment, and review the reports to prepare for future classes. In order to make this work there is teacher and student app.

Today’s Document: Apple / Android

Today’s Document is an interactive gallery that displays a significant historical document or photo for each day of the year. You can learn what happened on your birthday, search for a document by keyword, or just browse. Featured documents have included the Declaration of Independence and Emancipation Proclamation as well as lesser known documents like the Zimmerman Telegram, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1961 Farewell address, and a handwritten draft of President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Inaugural Address.

Quizlet: Apple / Android

Quizlet is a great app to help study with flashcards. Create your own flashcards or search through Quizlet’s database of over 21 million user-created flashcards. Pick from 3 mobile-only study modes to suit learning styles and take advantage of audio in 18 languages to reinforce pronunciation and retention