Tech Edge: Mobile Learning In the Classroom Podcasts
This week I watched several podcasts from the Tech EDGE: Mobile Learning in the Classroom channel and then learned about several of the apps that their podcast recommends. I was so impressed by the sheer number of episodes this podcast has released and also by the variety of topics that their videos cover. Whether you are an elementary or a secondary teacher, this is definitely a resource that you should bookmark or keep on your radar as you head into your first few years of instructing and beyond. The podcasts are packed with knowledge and the speaker clearly grasps the topics he is discussing, so you get a lot of high quality information in a short amount of time.
The first app that I discovered through these podcasts is called TypeShift. TypeShift is vocabulary based and follows a format that resembles lockpicking, allowing players to slide columns of letters up and down to form words and solve clues — perfectly combining puzzles and education. One thing I really like about this app is that it logs points for when you solve the core words that the level is looking for, but it also keeps track of any additional words you create and find. The game was created by the same people who curated the Miriam-Webster dictionary, so it also gives you the option to tap on any word that students are unfamiliar with an quickly gives a definition. I would love to use this app in my classroom during vocabulary lessons and also spelling practice time, but I really wish that teachers had the option of inputting their own vocabulary list so the game could better align with the learning objectives and class goals. I could see this game being really addictive just for fun and could see myself playing it when I am bored similar to other word games and puzzles.
The second app that I downloaded based on the Tech EDGE podcast's recommendation is called Pythagorea. Within this educational geometry app, students can solve geometric construction problems, look through a glossary of math-related definitions, and grow their own Pythagoras tree to track their progress. Students can advance through levels and solve problems about length and distance, parallels, isosceles triangles, medians and mid-segments, reflection, perpendiculars, trapezoids, and squares, just to name a few. It is difficult to describe the types of problems in text, so I recommend watching the video below if you want to learn more! I love how this app promotes higher-level thinking and utilizes a 2-D grid to explain all of the properties of lines and shapes. I am hoping to teach elementary students so I am not sure how much I would be able to utilize this app in my own classroom, but I could maybe use it for upper level students as a challenging game during math time. It would be a great game to play at stations or centers, and I feel like I could take the principles from the game and kind of make my own simplified version of it for my younger classes.
The third app that I learned more about is called CrashCourse. I have been watching the Crash Course videos produced by John and Hank Green for years (definitely the resource that allowed me to pass both my AP U.S. History exam and my college-level Biology final) so I was well aware of the beauty of their work, but had no idea that there was an app where all of the videos have been categorized and assembled so that students can access them much easier. The videos cover an extensive range of topics including anatomy & physiology, astronomy, big history, biology, chemistry, computer science, ecology, economics, film, games, intellectual property, literature, philosophy, physics, psychology, sociology, study skills, U.S. government and politics, U.S. history, world history, and world mythology. I 100% plan on using these videos as resources in my classroom on a regular basis, especially to introduce new concepts at the beginning of a lesson or to summarize a lesson right before an assessment. The videos are usually around ten minutes in length so they are the perfect length to capture and maintain students' attention, especially since they are so fast paced and exciting and use real world examples to make the concepts relevant. I also really like the "study skills" video category and feel like this section could be particularly useful for students.