Activated Apps
Just as we are aware of which food is healthy and which food is unhealthy, so too we must be aware of the apps our students are using, because not all apps are high in mental fibre.
Arising from years of research into how students learn with technology, together with maximising their development of key 21st century thinking and working skills is the Activated Classroom Teaching (ACT) approach.
The ACT approach is a TOTAL (Taxonomy Of Thinking And Learning) approach for the 21st century.
Below are some example apps that can be used to support the 5 ACT pedagogies. To learn how to use these and other apps to revolutionize your teaching in the digital join the ACT Professional course (15 PD Points).
Curation
Curation apps help develop key skills such as reading, categorising, organising, etc.
Curation apps help develop key skills such as reading, categorising, organising, etc.
- Pinterest (iOS, Android, Web) - This popular visual pinboard is great for creating collections of images. How about a pinboard of Disney character?
- Learning Lab (Web) - This site, created by the Smithsonian museum, allows kids to curate museum artefacts -
- List.ly (Web) - Create fun, shareable lists of websites, videos, and more from the web. How about starting with a list of all the places you want to visit?
- Flipboard (Web, iOS, Android) - Create your own digital magazines but curating content that you read from all over the web into online magazines that you can share.
- Storify (Web) - Turn the web into a story but pulling content from websites, videos, images, etc. This is a great way of organizing content to say something meaningful.
Conversation
We are seeing a shift from learning through content consumption to learning through conversation around content in online spaces. Conversation-based apps provide opportunities to debate, discuss, and enrich relationships.
We are seeing a shift from learning through content consumption to learning through conversation around content in online spaces. Conversation-based apps provide opportunities to debate, discuss, and enrich relationships.
- Maily (iOS/Android) is a parent-controlled app that allows kids to create fun messages with drawings and text.
- Playkids Talk (Android) - This instant messaging app is for primary school kids. With parental permission kids can send instant messages including photos, voice recordings and graphics to one another.
- Tlk.io (Web) - This great little site makes it easy to set up private spaces to have conversations with a group of people.
- Duolingo (Web, iOS, Android) - Conversation is about language, and this is app provides a gamified, fun way of learning new languages.
Correction -
Research shows that one of the most effective ways to learn is through mistakes. Technology allows us to easily experiment (make mistakes) and learn through correction. Here are some apps that encourage learning through correction.
Research shows that one of the most effective ways to learn is through mistakes. Technology allows us to easily experiment (make mistakes) and learn through correction. Here are some apps that encourage learning through correction.
- Scribblenauts (iOS/Android) lets kids bring any object to life simply by typing its name. These objects are then used to solve fun problems.
- Kahoot! (Web/iOS/Android) - Kahoot is a gamified take on quizzes that makes learning and mistakes, lots of fun. You can create your own quiz or try one of the thousands of quizzes already created. This is a great way to get a group of kids (and adults) learning and laughing together.
Creation
Creating content develops key skills such as logic, creative thinking, problem solving, etc. Here are a selection of apps that support creation-based learning.
Creating content develops key skills such as logic, creative thinking, problem solving, etc. Here are a selection of apps that support creation-based learning.
- Book Creator (Android and iOS) allows kids (or adults) to create their own books using their own photos, videos, etc. The final book can even be published to the Google Play store or iBooks.
- Scratch (Web, iOS, Android) - One of the most powerful ways to teach kids creative thinking and logic is through programming. MIT's Scratch environment is designed to let kids learn to program in an easy and fun way. Check out these courses on Scratch for kids! Programming for Kids and Programming for Beginners - Making the Flappy Bird Game.
- Minecraft (Web, iOS, Android) is one of the most successful games for kids - but it's not just play. Minecraft can encourage learning through creating complex worlds.
- Twinery (Web) is a really fun online app that allows students to create their own choose-your-route stories. This is an excellent way to encourage them to think through sequences and consequences. In this game you're a space scientist having to navigate multiple paths or try this game inspired by Dungeons and Dragons - but better than both is you creating your own story!
Chaos
Learning to make sense of too much information, missing information, and conflicting information is a skill children increasingly need to develop in our content-excessive world. These apps help kids develop the important 21st century skills of analysis, logic, categorisation, etc.
Learning to make sense of too much information, missing information, and conflicting information is a skill children increasingly need to develop in our content-excessive world. These apps help kids develop the important 21st century skills of analysis, logic, categorisation, etc.
- Word clouds (Web) are a great way to distill large amounts of text into fascinating visual representations. Worditout allows kids to easily create a word cloud from any piece of text. ABCYA is a fun tool for kids to create word clouds. Also see Wordle, Tagxedo and Word Sift - How about creating a word cloud of the news, or a famous speech?
- Mindmapping - Mindmaps are a useful to help us organise our thinking. Corkulous (iOS) provides a fun corkboard spin on this concept for kids.
- Comics - Sometimes kids can be overwhelmed or bored by content but always enjoy cartoons. Rather than reading them or watching them, let your kids create cartoons with toondoo.com or animations with Powtoon.com. How about asking them to create a cartoon that summarises what their year?
Activated Classroom Teaching - Book & Online Course
Have you ever tried to bake a cake without following a recipe? Unless you’re a great chef, it most likely ended in failure. Why then do we think we can use technology to teach without having a “recipe” – or in teacher talk, a pedagogy – and not have it end in failure?
We can no longer teach our 21st century students like we used to. However, there is conflicting research on the effect of technology on teaching and learning. Why is this? Quite simply, without an underlying digital age pedagogy our attempts are going to be hit-or-miss.
The Activated Classroom Teaching (ACT) approach is a unique approach consisting of five easy to apply, digital age pedagogies. These pedagogies leverage the affordances of technology, resonate with 21st century students, and utilize effective active learning approaches.
Packed with practical examples, this book will not only show you what technology you can use, but how you can use this technology effectively in your classroom. Plus you’ll experience the ACT pedagogies yourself through the book, the website, and the ACT teachers’ network.
Without a guiding digital age pedagogy, we’re playing educational roulette, and the stakes are high – the future of our children.
We can no longer teach our 21st century students like we used to. However, there is conflicting research on the effect of technology on teaching and learning. Why is this? Quite simply, without an underlying digital age pedagogy our attempts are going to be hit-or-miss.
The Activated Classroom Teaching (ACT) approach is a unique approach consisting of five easy to apply, digital age pedagogies. These pedagogies leverage the affordances of technology, resonate with 21st century students, and utilize effective active learning approaches.
Packed with practical examples, this book will not only show you what technology you can use, but how you can use this technology effectively in your classroom. Plus you’ll experience the ACT pedagogies yourself through the book, the website, and the ACT teachers’ network.
Without a guiding digital age pedagogy, we’re playing educational roulette, and the stakes are high – the future of our children.
