For the 2012-2013 school year, teachers with access to mobile technology are teaching kids with these great education apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Educators use apps to let their students do everything from practicing their math equations, to determining a leaf’s parent tree, to joining Paul Revere on his ride. Lots of educators (including Apple Distinguished Educators) on Appolicious share their lists of the best education apps for elementary, middle school, junior high, and high school. (See picks for 2011/2012.)
These are the education apps recommended by educators on Appolicious.
Art/Creativity
Art (iPhone and iPad, $0.99) Recommended by LaurieFowler: “I love the paintings on this app and they have a quiz mode to test your knowledge, too.”
Grade: 5-12
Listed by: justatitch, LaurieFowler, uwcsea.
Pinnacle Studio (iPad, $9.99) Recommended by educator kathyschrock: “Pinnacle Studio is a really easy to use, powerful video editing app for the iPad. Not free, but really good!”
Grade: 3-12
Puppet Pals HD Director’s Pass (iPad, $2.99) Recommended by educator dmiktuk: “Worth it, students may create own puppets and backgrounds for their created story.”
Grade: 3-12
Listed by: dmiktuk
Classroom Tools
Dropbox (iPhone and iPad, Free) Recommended by df9091: “Great for accessing your synced folders and files you store in the cloud.”
Grade: K-12
Listed by: df9091
Educreations Interactive Whiteboard (iPad, Free) Recommended by womssenorturner: “A great way to explain things and to get students involved in teaching each other.” dmiktuk: “Record presentations and share with the rest of the world.”
Grade: K-12
Listed by: dmiktuk, womssenorturner
Evernote (iPhone and iPad, Free) Recommended by elemenous: “Evernote is a classic must-have app for everyone, particularly educators and students. This web-based tool is ideal for taking and storing notes, and can be accessed through a variety of desktop and mobile apps. Notebooks containing individual notes can be created and shared with others, and Evernote supports the importing of various multimedia.”
Grade: 3-12
Google Drive (iPhone and iPad, Free) Recommended by tpaton: “Access your Google Docs on the go.”
Grade: K-12
Listed by: tpaton, womssenorturner
McGraw-Hill K-12 eFlashcards (iPhone and iPad, Free) Recommended by JRaymond: “Practice, practice!”
Grade: K-12
Listed by: JRaymond
Notability – Take Notes & Annotate PDFs with Dropbox & Google Drive Sync (iPad, $1.99) Recommended by jkant76: “All kind of notes. Pdf, rtf & rtf+audio export. Amazing.”
Grade: 3-12
Listed by: iteachlounge, jkant76, LuisP, rsu21its, TealTyrannosaur
Pages (iPhone & iPad, $9.99) Recommended by educator justatitch: “Hands-down, this is the best word processing program ever…”
Grade: 3-12
Geography
Barefoot World Atlas iPad App (iPhone and iPad, $4.99) Recommended by MapXL, product lead for education apps: “Possibly the best mix of education and entertainment for kids. The graphics best utilize the retina display of iPad 2 and the new iPad and the quality of content is simply amazing.”
Grade: K-12
Listed by: MapXL
History: Maps of the World (iPhone and iPad, Free) Reviewed by educator uwcsea: “View historical maps of the world.” Educator janstearns: “Lots of different maps. Can be displayed on VGA.”
Grade: 3-12
Listed by: Alline, janstearns, uwcsea.
Stack the States (iPhone and iPad, $0.99) Recommended by elemenous “Another favorite of my son. Very well designed and keeps kids playing the game so that they learn facts about states.”
Grade: 3-8
Listed by: elemenous, kellerisd.
General
BrainPop Jr. Movie of the Week (iPhone and iPad, Free) Recommended by dmiktuk: “..contains free movies for one to use in their classroom.”
Grade: K-8
Listed by: dmiktuk, educationalapps.
iTunes U (iPhone and iPad, Free) Recommended by dmiktuk: “Free education content and access to courses from universities and K-12 schools.”
Grade: 6-12
Listed by: dmiktuk.
Khan Academy (iPhone and iPad, Free) Thousands of videos on topics ranging from math, science, finance, and history.
Grade: 6-12
Listed by: dmiktuk.
History/Social Studies
Ansel & Clair: Paul Revere’s Ride (iPad, $4.99) Reviewed by Appolicious: “Part interactive history lesson, part educational game, Ansel & Clair: Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride teaches kids about American history.”
Grade: K-7
Listed by: sharakarasic
Early Jamestown (iPad, Free) Reviewed by lmorris: “This app is a chapter from an interactive textbook series. At the end of the chapter, they give review questions. The chapters are written to keep student interest and the pictures are great.” klbruni331: “Very cool interactive ebook.”
Grade: 6-12
Listed by: klbruni331, sharakarasic.
Presidents vs. Aliens (iPhone and iPad, $0.99) Learn about the U.S. Presidents while having fun. Answer quiz questions such as “Who was President during the Cuban Missile Crisis?” and if you get the answers right, you get a chance to zap aliens.
Grade: 3-8
Language Arts
Shakespeare (iPhone and iPad, Free) Recommended by justatitch: “All his major words, right in one place.”
Grade: 6-12
Listed by: justatitch, techchick, techsupv.
Spelling City (iPhone and iPad, Free) Recommended by dmiktuk: “Games and activities for learning spelling words. Lets students interact with your spelling lists from your online account.”
Grade: 2-12
Listed by: dmiktuk
Starfall ABC’s (iPhone and iPad, $2.99) Recommended by missyromeis: “I LOVE this app. Just like the website. Has mini games or songs for some letters. Includes phrases, words and sounds of the letters. A fav of mine!”
Grade: K-1
Listed by: missyromeis, rsu21its
StoryKit (iPhone and iPad, Free) Recommended by wfryer: “Create and share an electronic storybook. Helping learners become authors is a BIG deal. This app helps.”
Grade: 4-12
Listed by: elemenous, techsupv, wfryer and cchausis
Math
Alien Equation (iPhone and iPad, $0.99) Recommended by LRoe: “Fun game to build fluency in basic operations. Instant feedback. Player profiles to track progress.”
Grade: 3-8
Listed by: LRoe, rsu21its.
MathBoard (iPhone and iPad, $4.99) Recommended by LRoe: “Random problems for basic operations plus cubes and square roots. Problem solver and quick references.”
Grade: 3-8
Listed by: Alline, efuchs1, LRoe, rsu21its.
Math Bingo (iPhone and iPad, $0.99) Recommended by justatitch: “This app combines math and everyone’s favorite game, B-I-N-G-O! A great combo that helps kids practice math without feeling like they’re practicing math.”
Grade: 4-8
Listed by: ChrisAtkinsonCWE, EducationalApps, justatitch, uwcsea.
Math Evolve: A Fun Math Game (iPhone and iPad, $1.99) Recommended by hillavee: “A creative and fun way to learn computation! Highly customizable, fun to use and developed by a teacher-what could be better?”
Grade: 3-6
Listed by: hillavee, rsu21its.
Music
Bebot – Robot Synth (iPhone and iPad, $1.99) Reviewed by uwcsea: “Part robot, part synth – Bebot is a musical synthesizer with a unique multitouch control method and a versatile sound engine.”
wfryer: “Best app I’ve found for just playing with synthesizer sounds & getting musically creative.”
Grade: K-12
Listed by: uwcsea, wfryer
MadPad HD – Remix Your Life (iPhone and iPad, $0.99) Reviewed by wfryer:: “From the same folks who brought us Magic Piano, recommended by Brandt Schneider. Make everyday objects musical!”
Grade: K-12
Listed by: meesterkurt, wfryer
Science
Bobo Explores Light (iPad, $4.99) Recommended by JT1970: “A beautiful and educational book for older kids.” Kids can explore topics such as lasers, lightning, and bioluminescence with a friendly robot companion Bobo.
Grade: 5-12
Leafsnap (iPad, Free) Recommended by EducationalApps: “Very good way to get the kids identifying leaves this fall!” Leafsnap is an electronic field guides by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. This free It uses visual recognition software to identify trees from photographs of their leaves.
Grade: 4-12
Listed by: akuswara, EducationalApps, mamante.
NASA App HD (iPad, Free) Recommended by janstearns: “Beautiful, free app that displays information on all things NASA.”
Grade: K-12
Listed by: justatitch, janstearns.
Project Noah (iPhone and iPad, Free) Recommended by akuswara: “Collect local flora and fauna you’ve spotted and complete missions. Feels like the Boyscouts again.”
Grade: 2-12
Listed by: akuswara.
Science 360 for iPad (iPad, Free) Recommended by dmiktuk: “Contains many science videos…” From the National Science Foundation.
Grade: 3-12
Listed by: dmiktuk, rsu21its.
Solar System for iPad (iPad, Free) Recommended by elemenous: “An interactive science app from the creators of the Elements.”
Grade: 3-12
Listed by: elemenous, rsu21its.
