BrainPOP

The more you know, the more you know! FREE WITH IAP | WWW.BRAINPOP.COM

This app is aimed at children, yes, but the messages it conveys are invaluable to big kids, too, like you and me. Each day, the app features a video that aims to teach you something — such as, what is an eclipse, how should we act online, how do compasses work, what is information privacy, how to deal with bullying, learning about continents, how to make friends, how to prepare for school exams and even some history topics. Each video is a colourful cartoon, featuring friendly characters (or not so friendly, in the case of the bullying and slavery videos...) but, above all, important messages to take away. Today’s video was about goals and the ways in which you can achieve them. Instead of simply preaching ‘this is what you should do in order to achieve success’, the video presenter gave your humble reviewer a few different options, explaining that certain things work better for some people, but not all, and that if one thing doesn’t work, it’s OK to try another route to your goal. After each video, you can watch it again or be quizzed on what you remember. If you log in, you can save videos and compare your scores with friends, as well as play educational games, try your hand at some science, English or maths activities (or ‘math’, since this is a US-made app). As an arm of the extensive online hub, it does pretty well to not appear too cluttered in design and usability — but there is a lot of content to be had here. It also has a lot of content for teachers, too, including lesson plans.