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"AUTHOR: ISSIE LAPOWSKY. ISSIE LAPOWSKY DATE OF PUBLICATION: 05.04.15. 05.04.15 TIME OF PUBLICATION: 7:00 AM. 7:00 AM INSIDE THE SCHOOL SILICON VALLEY THINKS WILL SAVE EDUCATION Click to Open Overlay Gallery Students in the youngest class at the Fort Mason AltSchool help their teacher, Jennifer Aguilar, compile a list of what they know and what they want to know about butterflies. CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK/WIRED SO YOU'RE A parent, thinking about sending your 7-year-old to this rogue startup of a school you heard about from your friend's neighbor's sister. It's prospective parent information day, and you make the trek to San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood. You walk up to the second floor of the school, file into a glass-walled conference room overlooking a classroom, and take a seat alongside dozens of other parents who, like you, feel that public schools-with their endless bubble-filled tests, 38-kid classrooms, and antiquated approach to learning-just aren't cutting it. At the same time, you're thinking: this school is kind of weird. On one side of the glass is a cheery little scene, with two teachers leading two different middle school lessons on opposite ends of the room. But on the other side is something altogether unusual: an airy and open office with vaulted ceilings, sunlight streaming onto low-slung couches, and rows of hoodie-wearing employees typing away on their computers while munching on free snacks from the kitchen. And while you can't quite be sure, you think that might be a robot on wheels roaming about. Then there's the guy who's standing at the front of the conference room, the school's founder. Dressed in the San Francisco standard issue t-shirt and jeans, he's unlike any school administrator you've ever met. But the more he talks about how this school uses technology to enhance and individualize education, the more you start to like what he has to say. And so, if you are truly fed up with the school stat

The iPad (or iPod touch or iPhone) with its apps opens many new opportunities for learning. At the same time, it offers a slightly different wrapper for older learning opportunities. Both can be worthwhile, but it would be a shame if teachers missed the former for the latter. And, if past experience and research is any indication, educators are much more likely to co-opt the new technology to accomplish the status quo. This activity is designed to help teachers think through both opportunities and to categorize those apps that lend themselves to either or both. Teachers will start by exploring a variety of apps, some that lend themselves to learning content such as math facts or spelling words and others that can be used in open ended content creation such as storytelling or photography. Then, teachers will examine a set of lessons that use these apps. Finally, teachers will use a "taxonomy" such as Bloom's Taxonomy, SAMR, LoTi, ETaP, Prensky, etc. and attempt to classify/categorize where the apps fall. Most likely teachers will need to contextualize the app to a particular use/activity. Ideally, teachers will realize that in most cases it is not the app itself, but the use that detrmines where it falls and that the apps belong in multiple places.

Swift Playgrounds, an innovative new iPad app from Apple that makes learning to code easy and fun for everyone, is now available on the App Store. With Swift Playgrounds, real coding concepts are brought to life with an interactive interface that allows students and beginners to explore working with Swift, the easy-to-learn programming language from Apple used by professional developers to create world-class apps.

"This is a list that comprises some of the best math apps and extensions in Chrome store. We have literally gone through hundreds of apps to finally decide on the apps that would make the cut.These extensions are meant to help kids develop math skills through a wide variety of exercises, activities, games, interactive simulations and many more. Some of these apps are integrated with Google Drive and are also available for  iPad, Android, and Chromebooks."

A breathtaking array of 'learn to code' Apple, Android and Windows phone apps. Learn C++, Python C#, HTML, SQL, JavaScript, Java, CSS, php and Swift via the site or apps. These are 'must try' tools for anyone starting out with coding. The site even has a 'Code Playground' to experiment with your code.

Swift Playground is an iPad app to learn Apple's Swift coding language which underpins apps on iOS. The app has engaging lessons and different levels to play.

A truly amazing Apple App for learning maths. Download the host or client app to your Apple device and set maths quizzes to complete in real time together in class. The apps communicate through a wireless network or Bluetooth and the host device tracks and keeps all the data for each quiz so you can see where your class need to improve. To set questions you just turn the sections on or off and the app chooses questions from these at random. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

"As I started a go-to list of the best educational iPad apps for kids, the list got so long, I split up my posts into categories. So, today we'll start with my favorite iPad apps for literacy - reading and writing for toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary-age kids. Also, I've included special needs iPad app resources at the end of this post."

Ways to Evaluate Educational Apps

"I tried to make my rubric work for the broadest range of apps, from drill and practice to creative endeavors, while stressing the purpose for using the app. My rubric also emphasizes the ability to customize content or settings and how the app encourages the use of higher order thinking skills."

Apps for children with special needs

A great variety of iPad apps specifically collected for students with learning differences. All of the ones I've checked out so far are free or under a dollar.

This blog post discusses the use of apps that are not specifically designed for Math in Mathematics teaching and learning. It include a range of teaching applications and provides links to all relevant apps

This is a great game app for learning Chinese Pinyin, simplified Chinese and Mandarin. Play the Scrabble-like game by arranging your tiles on the board to form Pinyin words. Choose a character and the correct meaning to gain extra points. Play against friends on the web. Download the app at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pinyinpal-only-free-mandarin/id573873383 http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Mandarin+%26+Chinese+culture

Math Learning Center Apps - Number Rack, Geoboard, Number Pieces and Number Pieces basic.  Available as iPad app and web app.

Great set of links to virtual manipulatives for enhancing math understanding

Classroom Apps Find educational apps for iPads, Chromebooks, Androids and Laptops but first start with a learning objective in mind.

A great app to support teaching and learning spellings. Updated.

Welcome to the iPads4teaching site! This site will provide you with tips, tricks and resources for teaching and learning with the iPad.  It does not include the links of apps by Bloom's. You can find those (and more)  on my iPads in the Classroom page, Teaching and Learning with the iPad page, and Bloomin' Apps page, which are listed in the navigation menu. This site will promote the use of the iPad to support sound pedagogical practices and provide professional development options for you. If you have items to share, please use the form in the footer to let me know about them!

This article explores various iPad apps that could "transform" the classroom.  

San Francisco-based kids' app platform Fingerprint is teaming up with UK educational app maker Mindshapes. The two companies are collaborating on a series of new digital learning activities called "appisodes," which combine both storytelling and games.