The Buzz: Hot apps from ISTE, a serious game source, and more
RSSBy Kathy Ishizuka
The popular note-taking service Evernote has made a free app to help you study and enhance your memory. The first app designed to work with the iPad 2 Smart Cover, Evernote Peek is simple and intuitive to use. After installing the app, users select content from their Evernote accounts and close the cover. When you’re ready to test yourself, lift the first section of the cover to reveal a clue; lifting further reveals the answer. To advance to the next clue, just close the cover and repeat. Was a pop quiz ever this cool? Among the most talked about apps at ISTE, ShowMe enables you to create screencasts with audio from your iPad. User demos posted on the site range from the Pythagorean theorem to the visual Rule of Thirds. A handy tool for creating lessons, or better yet, have students create their own screencast tutorials. On her blog, “Langwitches,” educator Silvia Tolisano tells how fourth-grade students made their own ShowMe tutorials without needing any instruction. Some leading organizations are producing great games for learning. Now there’s a single site to find a bunch of them. Launched by animated content creator BrainPOP, the free resource, called GameUp, includes activities across the topic range, from a blood-typing game created by NobelPrize.org to iCivics’ “Argument Wars,” in which students can test their oral skills by arguing actual Supreme Court cases. A new tablet is getting some attention. A 10.1-inch WiFi slate, the Toshiba Thrive includes some features that differentiate it from the iPad. One of the first tablets to ship with the Android Honeycomb operating system, the Thrive sports a replaceable battery and an offering of slots and ports, including one USB 2.0 and one mini USB, one HDMI connector, and an SD card slot. The screen is high-resolution (1280X800 pixels), and there are two stereo speakers and front and rear cameras. The 8GB model costs $430; the 16 GB $480. Innovators in the UK have made it possible to take designs you create on your computer and reproduce them physically in chocolate. Yes! While 3-D printing is already being used in industry to produce plastic and metal products, it’s the first time the principles have been applied to chocolate. The confection is tricky to work with because it requires precise heating and cooling cycles, says research leader Liang Hao of the University of Exeter. These variables then have to be integrated with the correct flow rates for the 3-D printing process. Also in the works: a consumer-friendly website for uploading chocolate designs for 3-D rendering and delivery. The concepts “fun” and “math” don’t always come together for young learners. Enter Sokikom, billed as the first massively multiplayer online math social learning game. Sokikom can accommodate 30 student players at a time, so the whole class can enjoy games for demystifying fractions, measurement, and more. In individual game-play, kids go through a personalized math program that adapts to their abilities. As players master levels, they earn Soki-Coins, which they can use to outfit their avatar. You might also like: The Buzz: Chromebooks Go to School and a 'Landmark' Tech Space The Buzz: Zombie literacy and a first app for Rosemary Wells
Lift the Flap App
Show and Tell
Serious Game Source
Tablet du Jour
A Chocolate Printer? Sweet.
Multiplayer Math
