Professionally Speaking Article: Apps Analysis 1

Apps Analysis

BY STEFAN DUBOWSKI

Simple Machines by Tinybop

Annoy a grumpy castle by catapulting globs at it. Help an excitable rider get their bike going. Bounce spheres around a spacey pinball game. What's the connection? These activities are all about simple machines: levers, pulleys, screws, wedges, inclined planes, wheels and axles. Each activity demonstrates a machine and gets the player experimenting with it. For example, notice how you need just one or two pulleys to lift a bird, but four or five for a jet. No storyline, no adventure — nonetheless a good introduction to these mechanical devices, which the Ontario curriculum levers into action in Grade 2.

DEVICE: Apple, Android
SOURCE: Apple App Store ($3.99), Google Play (free trial)
Rating: 4+, Everyone

Desmos Graphing Calculator

Students can plot polar, Cartesian or parametric graphs with this powerful app. They can arrange data in tables, and create input-output tables. Analyze: view best-fit lines, parabolas and other statistics. Find maximums, minimums and points of intersection in curves. Move the sliders to affect values and see how adjustments change the presentation. A built-in scientific calculator handles equations including square roots and absolute values. Data visualization, including graphs, is integral to Ontario's math curriculum. Check out developer Desmos's website (desmos. com) for teaching resources.

DEVICE: Apple, Android
SOURCE: Apple App Store (free), Google Play (free)
Rating: 4+, Everyone

Friend@NU

ABCYA and More

ABCYa

https://www.abcya.com/

 

             For this blog post I decided to share some details about the online website ABCYa. This website offers over 350 free educational games that are organized by grade level and subject area, such literacy, mathematics and science. In addition, there is an app version that can be downloaded onto mobile devices. And joining a premium subscription enable users to access hundreds of worksheets, activity pages and other resources, along with other benefits.

 

 

 

            Some of the language games that caught my attention are the Alphabats series for PRE – K – 2 students. Of these games, I have played Syllables. In this game, there is one bat at the top-half of the screen and other bats at the bottom-half of the screen. The objective of the game is to select a bat from the bottom-half screen that shares the number of syllables as the one on the top-half and drag it next to the top-bat in order to proceed. The game also instructs the user to count the number of times their chin moves as they pronounce a word, in order to find the matching bat. After the user has completed the educational part of the game, they are rewarded with a bat-sonar and bug-selecting game. Overall, the third game is both fun and easy for PRE – K – 2 students to play, and I believe that the alliteration and rhyming games are of similar quality.

 

 

            The second game series that caught my attention is Math Lines. Of the two games, the one that I played is the Multiplication game for Grades 2 – 6. In this game, the user combines two factors to equal the target number. The game is won when all number balls have been eliminated before reaching the next exit hole. To begin, the user selects a number to multiply to. After selecting a target number, the user is instructed to clear the balls by forming pairs that multiple to reach the target number. Moreover, the user can use one ball to clear a group of same-numbered balls. Overall, this game can be confusing to play at first, since the instructions do not offer sufficient instruction. However, once the user understands how to play the game, it can be quite engaging.

 

            Regarding my final thoughts, this site does offer some interesting games, but students will require instructions from teachers and parents on how to play many of them. Additionally, many of the games I have played are quite basic and try to entice the user to keep playing by allowing them to play more fun bonus levels as a reward for getting enough correct answers. Other downsides include there being no assessment or progress reports. Users without a premium subscription have to sit through bothersome ads at times and can only access very few games on the mobile app, among other limitations. Thus, this website is best used when students have downtime to practice their skills.

Courtesy of Michael O.@NU OTECA)