In February, we highlighted apps, games, and websites that support science, technology, engineering, art, and math learning (STEAM). And we telling us how technology supports their teaching in these subject areas. Of the many Teacher Reviews teachers wrote, 24 submissions caught our eye. In them, educators of various grade levels and subject areas explain how they use these tools in their teaching. Here's our list of STEAM apps, games, and websites that our educators enjoy using in the classroom. I use this in high school Engineering and Technology classes. Sometimes students have taken their own pictures and videos and used them to illustrate content such as parts of a computer or simple machines. Book Creator is a great app to use with all levels of students. I used this app with a group of fifth grade students who were learning about the Atom. Each child used the app on an iPad and created a 4-page book about what they knew about atoms. My students use this app for small group learning as well as individual review/practice. When they click on the t.v. They can watch short videos about chemical reactions, the heart, planets, gravity, earthquakes, magnetism, the sun, friction, light optics, and mammals. I like to assign them a video that works with our current unit. I am not a programmer but used this website to introduce my 5th grade students to programming. If you can find a student who gets really engaged and loves it, this is something a student could take home or take with them over the summer and literally teach themselves to code. CodeHS allows students to go through programming videos, quizzes, and programming practice assignments to build basic coding skills. It's not a bad set up, and does get students typing out actual code. Comic Life allows students to express what they have learned in all the different aspects of STEAM in a creative way that makes it fun for them so that they don't mind doing reinforcing work where this works best. With Desmos, students don't have to download anything, and they find that the online calculator is easier to use than the handheld or software, once they get past the initial learning curve. You got locked in the classroom. Search around, pick up items and solve puzzles to help you escape! A major way I use Desmos is in assigning a 'face project,' where students utilize a variety of relations and functions to create the face of a cartoon character. This app is a great way to get students thinking, creating, and innovating! It is also a good way to help them develop technological skills and interact appropriately and respectfully with others online. I loved the fact that students could be creative and use different forms of media. Some of my students are not as artistic by drawing or designing posters, but by being able to create it on the computer, and with the different media, it targeted many more students. As a teaching tool, Instructables is a great source for helping show students how they can harness the collaborative nature of the web for learning. There are user submitted instructions on how to create just about anything you could imagine. This is a great tool for each of my students. I like the interactive feedback that is given. Students get to see how to correctly solve a problem if they get it wrong. It could serve the kids better if the understanding portion of the feedback was orally read to them like the problems. Khan Academy is a great learning tool for the students to use in class and outside of the classroom. When they are stuck with a problem, they can watch the video for help or take a hint, which helps with self learning, and gives the teacher time to work with students individually as well We first used Kodable as part of our K-8 Hour of Code experience. I use Kodable in the MIddle School level to help me teach conditional thinking and linear sequencing. It requires students to think analytically, since nothing works if you don't break a process into its component parts. Kodu Game Lab grabs the attention of students because it mimics modern video games. Unlike true coding, Kodu is set up to be a graphical game design builder making it less intimidating to young programmers. As an introductory practice to coding in the early grades, Light-bot is very versatile. It provides tutorials in 4 different languages. It can be set up very easily since it is a free app, it can be used individually, in small groups or as a whole class. This tool is amazing! Most of the time, when you think of comic strips, you think of simply fun and games, or even of mildly inappropriate humor. However, the comic characters and props available for students to use are appropriate and help to foster imagination and character development. I give my students time on Math Playground as part of our daily math. It's a wonderful site to simply practice and students are always on task and engaged. I also encourage children to use it at home for practice, no one ever complains about that math homework. It fosters communication and collaboration as students assume roles and responsibilities within their team, relay information about their Minecraft world to each other, and together create something that would not have been possible individually. The game-based instruction and practice engaged my students, and they often choose this app when given free time. The ability to adjust levels and operations makes it easy to differentiate for students at different levels. This high-quality app makes for an ideal (and affordable!) teaching tool that increases student engagement and encourages math skills. Explicit instruction should always follow the playing of this game in my experience with it, to ensure students are able to hone in on specific skills. NASA Kids' Club is a great free resources for classrooms that are exploring space. It has a number of games that integrate academic skills (e.g. Letter recognition and telling time) with a space theme but not all of the games are academic. Radix Endeavor is a well designed and fun to play role playing game. This makes it ideal for a student who already loves RPGs. However, it won't necessarily be engaging or fun for a student who doesn't like these types of games. VoiceThread is a gem of an educational tool. This website allows teachers to create presentation and students can participate and respond to the presentation. In this manner, teachers can have pre-recorded lessons and activities that can run through a slideshow with audio and/or text. There is an engaging storyline and each 'chapter' leads to more answers. There are definitely different lessons to be learned within the game having to do with engineering, angles, side measures, forces of gravity, equilibrium, the scientific method (if you are brave!), etc We are also pleased to announce the winner of the $200 Amazon gift card. To qualify for the drawing, educators had to submit more than one qualifying Teacher Review during this campaign. Our winner is., a t echnology coordinator and math and science teacher from Lancaster, Pa. To read his excellent Field Notes on Kodable Pro, Mathmateer, and Free Rice. Click on the follow button on his profile to follow him! What STEAM apps, games, and websites are transforming your classroom? Contribute a Teacher Review today!
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