Appy Hour at Local Elementary School's GATE Club

-

On Thursday morning I was a guest at a local school's GATE Club meeting to present some of the apps that we have on our iPads at the library. I brought our collection of 11 iPads with me, along with some handouts and the cable to connect one iPad to their projector. Then I gave kids a quick overview of each app (I chose apps that were STEM-related this time) and allowed the kids to play with the iPads for fifteen minutes before they had to leave for class.

Here are the apps we covered:

Science

Monster Heart Medic - Free - Explores the cardiovascular system and gives you an interactive game helping a monster to achieve a healthier life. iOS, Android, Amazon.

Stephen Hawking's Snapshots of the Universe - $1.99 - Explore concepts about gravity, relativity, and how the universe works while playing challenges that stimulate your curiosity to learn more. iOS.

NAMOO - Wonders of Plant Life - $3.99 - This stunning and visually engrossing app teaches students about plant biology and makes processes like photosynthesis and capillary action easier to understand. iOS, Android, Amazon.

iBiome Wetland - $2.99 – Play a game that teaches you step by step about the wetland biome and the way ecosystems work. iOS.

Shout Science! - Free - A comic-book style app with in-depth stories about three different scientists who changed the way we see the world. iOS.

Arloon Solar System - $2.99 - Great visual explanations of how Earth’s orbit, the moon’s orbit, the Earth’s axis and other mechanisms of our solar system actually work. iOS, Android.

Technology

The Everything Machine - $2.99 - iOS. Like a LittleBits kit that is completely digital, you learn concepts about electrical circuits and mechanical devices while hacking your iPad and making it do wonderful new things. iOS.

Engineering

Rube Works - $2.99 - Solve puzzles and make complex, funny Rube Goldberg machines. Promotes creativity and critical thinking as well as Common Core science skills. iOS, Android, Amazon.

Monster Physics - $1.99 - Learn about simple machines and build your own invention. iOS.

Math

Math Angle – Free - Hands-on activities for reinforcing the concepts of acute & obtuse angles and estimating degrees. iOS.

Find more great apps for kids at http://www.pinterest.com/pasadenalibrary!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bat Signals

-
Image
I'm doing a craft project for Batman's 75th Anniversary where the kids are going to make Bat Signals out of Pringles cans. I had two different kinds of Pringles cans: a short one and a long one. I wanted to see, which can produced a clearer bat signal when an LED keychain flashlight was placed inside? Well, the first thing I had to do was construct a "stand" for the flashlight so that it would shine directly upwards. It kept falling down, ruining the effect! I cut out two circles (using the Pringles lid as a guide) of cardstock, glued them together so that they would be sturdy, and folded them into a semicircle shape. With the fold I cut some slits going outward in a kind of star formation so that the flashlight could poke through. Then I taped all around and underneath. Finally, I cut a few more slits around the outer circumference of my circle and bent the sides down like a hexagon to make it into a "stand." Worked quite well and I don't fors...
Read more

Scratch for Experienced Users: Flappy Bat

-
Image
Today we made videogames using Scratch, based on the infamous "Flappy Bird" videogame that brought its creators notoriety and established them in the halls of memorable bad game design forever :) We followed a tutorial I created and chose new sprites for our flappy character--many kids chose airplanes, fish, or other animals, and a few chose bats. The end code looks something like this (this is just the code for the bat that flies through the pipes): The final product is supposed to work like this (click on the picture and you'll be taken to the game which you can play): If you'd like to see the kids' projects they are posted here: Pasadena Library Kids' Blog The kids did a great job. Even one child who was not really very experienced with Scratch turned out to be quite sharp and able to follow all the difficult instructions. Despite having a lot of technical difficulties, almost everyone was able to go home with a finished game emailed to the...
Read more

Octopus Chromatophores

-
Image
Today we learned about color changing animals and how they're able to expand or contract special pigment sacs called chromatophores in their skin, in order to give the overall visual effect of having changed color. In reality, they have just chosen which pigments to expand and which ones to shrink, but all the pigments are there! We talked about how octopuses do this and how they also have papillae in their skin that can change the texture of their skin from smooth to rough or bumpy, which gives them an added camouflage benefit. To demonstrate how this works, I programmed a simulation of chromatophores expanding and contracting to match their environment using Scratch. You just click on the words Brown, Red, or Yellow to make the background change, and watch as the chromatophores change by expanding or contracting to emphasize that color! Click on the picture to go to the Scratch website and play with this simulation. Our hands on project today was pretty easy--to build a ...
Read more