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Mobile STEM APPs for the Classroom

byDr. Gary Bitter

Arizona State University

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Outline

• Part 1 – The APP’s Phenomenon• Part 2 – APP Development and Awareness at

ASU & my APPs class• Part 3 – APPs• Part 4 – Last Words

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60 seconds

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A Viral Video

Watch Dutch girl age 12 years in 2 minutes, 45 seconds.

http://vimeo.com/40448182

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PART 1 – THE APP’S PHENOMENON

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What is an APP?

• An APP is a small, self-contained computer program that provides value or engagement to a mass or targeted audience in a community, marketplace or platform.

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Why Mobile Technology and APPs?• Mobile devices are pervasive. Keeping in mind the ubiquity of

smartphones, eventually most everyone will have access to mobile APPs. Hundreds of thousands of mobile APPs have been developed in the past three years and the forecast for APP development is only expected to increase.

• Mobile devices are personal. The user experience of a mobile APP is reason alone for companies to consider developing their own APPlication. Because people automatically consider their mobile phone to be a key personal possession, APPs become part of that personal element.

• Mobile devices offer perfect proximity. As mentioned earlier, mobile phones and smartphones are a daily engagement. It wouldn’t been too far off to assume most people keep their cell phone within arm’s reach at all times, including while sleeping.

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The Major Mobile Operating Systems

• In the mobile space, there are five major mobile operating systems: – Symbian (Mostly Nokia Smart-phones)– RIM (Blackberry)– iPhone OS (Apple)– Android (Numerous handset manufacturers have adopted this:

HTC, Motorola, Sony Ericsson)– Windows Mobile (Microsoft)• If you wanted an APP to run on all these devices, software

would have to be rewritten for each OS.

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Major APP Categories

• Mobile APPs: Designed to leverage the unique characteristics of mobile audiences and smart phones, such as the need for location-based information or lightweight, portable versions of larger, more complex services.

• Community- or platform-based APPs: Those that are developed exclusively for and can only be used on a particular site such as Facebook.

• Widgets: Portable APPs that can reside on multiple third party sites and blogs.

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Worldwide SmartPhone Market Share

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Major APP Categories

Source

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The APP Explosion

• Mobile APP revenue is expected to generate $38 B by 2015

• App Store Sales Top $10 Billion in 2013• There are over 1,000,000 APPs available on

iTunes and over 300,000 on Android • The APP Store has paid out over $2.5B to

developers

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Flash News…

• Apple hits 50 billion APP Store downloads• http://

appleinsider.com/articles/14/03/29/why-did-microsoft-port-office-to-apples-ios-ipad-before-android

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APPle Store Statistics

• https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/01/07App-Store-Sales-Top-10-Billion-in-2013.html

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New Functionality to IPad: The IBook Phenomenon

• With the book reader function on the IPad, download the IBooks APPlication and use your iTunes account to search for your desired reading material.

• Read digital books conveniently on your IPad.

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Key Findings of a Recent Study

• The percentage of APPs for children has risen in every age category, accompanied by a decrease in APPs for adults.

• APPs for toddlers/preschoolers are the most popular age category (58%), and experienced the greatest growth (23%).

Source: Ilearn II

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Key Findings of a Recent Study

• Most children's APPs cost $0.99 (36%) or $1.99 (38%).

• 14% percent of the APPs mentioned school usage in their descriptions.

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PART 2 – APP DEVELOPMENT AND AWARENESS AT ASU

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Who Are We?

• Technology Based Learning and Research (TBLR) center at Arizona State University is an integral part of the university’s innovation and research initiatives.

• TBLR focuses on research and large-scale delivery of educational materials as well as technology training and integration using computers and other information and communication technologies.

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APP Development Efforts at ASU

• Arizona State University’s Technology Based Learning and Research (TBLR) has emphasized APP devlopment.

• http://tblr.asu.edu/ • http://garybitter.com/

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Here are Some of Our APPs

IQ Tester

IQ Tester is a fun, short 25-question test that estimates your IQ based on answers. The questions are similar to real IQ tests questions and can stimulate your brain. Try it before taking an exam or going into a job interview to get your critical thinking skills in top gear!

This APP has been downloaded more than 600,000 times to date.

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Here are Some of Our APPsTeaching with Technology Video LibraryThe NETS video library is a collection of video of actual classrooms, enriched by additional material such as lesson context, teacher handouts and even student work, accessible alongside the video. Each lesson has a pre-lesson interview, the lesson video itself (most an hour long), and then a post-lesson interview with the teacher. In addition, most lessons also include guiding questions, context, the teacher lesson plan, identified standards, commentary, and student handouts & work.The APPlication includes twenty-two lessons currently, and will have more added as we are able to get them online.

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Here are Some of Our APPs

Data Capture: Assessment of Teaching Practices

This is a teaching standards assessment instrument; it serves as a formative or in-progress assessment system to measure competency in the in the teaching standards over time and/or a summative measure of teacher performance.

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My APPs ClassEDT 494 – EDT 540

Conceptualizing, Creating & Marketing Mobile APPsThursday 4:30 –7:15

Fall 2014

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PART 3 – APPS

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How to Find the Right APP1. What is the main focus of the APP, i.e. what need does it address?2. How do you characterize the APP, i.e. educational, game like,

informative, practical, etc.?3. How is the APP relevant to your area and address your needs?4. What is the target audience of the APP?5. What stands out about the design of the APP?6. What stands out about the content of the APP?7. How innovative is the APP?8. How easy is the APP to navigate and use? 9. Is the APP free or is there a fee for using it?10. How popular is the APP; how many times has it been downloaded?11. How about the ratings of the APP?

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Top 10 Sites for Educational APPs

The wave of the future is here, especially for education. Terms like 21st Century Computing, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), and Cloud Computing are mainstream.

The introduction of mobile devices, iPods, netbooks, and more specifically, the iPad, has brought technology to more students than ever before.

A one-to-one computing environment is not only a possibility, but also a reality in more school districts than people realize. With all that being said, below are 10 sites for finding educational APPs.

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STEM APPs

• http://www.teachthought.com/learning/100-stem-ipad-apps-for-learning/

• http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=809971

• http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/resources/50-best-ipad-apps-stem-education

• http://www.pinterest.com/cdaughertyhill/stem/

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Top 10 Sites for Educational APPsAPPitic - Great site with over 1300 reviews done by Apple Distinguished Educators. These APPs have been tested in different grade levels with different instructional strategies. Mind Leap - Excellent site with reviews built on a five-star scale. Reviews are done on a wide range of subjects and offers a nice breakdown of statistics such as educational quality, engagement factor, and shelf life. Best Kids APPs - Site with great reviews on iPhone, iPad, and Android APPs. These reviews have a basic age rating and a nice image to go along too. Mac APP Store - Probably the most comprehensive list of APPs around. This APPlication from Apple is the ideal place to find and purchase APPs. Works on Snow Leopard OS and above. Fun Educational APPs - Ideal place to find reviews of APPs for the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. This is one of my favorite sites to find in-depth reviews with lots of pictures of the APP.

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Top 10 Sites for Educational APPsSmart APPs for Kids - Designed by a dad on a journey to find the best iPhone & iPad APPs. These APPs are reviewed on a four-star scale and offer a nice "bottom line" for those who don't want to read the whole review. Best APPs for Kids - Wonderful site that does a great breakdown of an educational APP, with reviews done on a scale of one through five. Offers readers advice on whether they should purchase the APP or not. Teachers with APPs - Great site with reviews of APPs that include videos and images. Ideal for teachers looking to find that perfect APP for the classroom. APPs in Education - Nice collection of iPad APPs that are reviewed by subject. These reviews are brief and to the point. I Education APPs Review - Designed as a community effort of reviews posted by a variety of users. There are even student reviews to give a unique perspective on the use of an APP.

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Educational Apps

• Personal/Organizational• Collaborative/Visualizing T

hinking• Creativity/Multimedia• Arts• Mathematics• English• Science• Humanities• News

• Civics and Citizenship• Design and Technology• Economics• Geography• Health and Physical Educatio

n• History• Languages• Students with Disabilities• ANDROID APPS

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How to Find APPs – ITunes (Apple, i.e. IPhone and IPad)

• Install ITunes• Select ITunes Store • Search for Keywords (i.e. “Math”)• Filter by “APPs”• IPhone Math APPs• IPhone Math Practice, Drill, Exercise, Test, Assessment,

Exam APPs• IPad Math APPs• IPad Math Practice, Drill, Exercise, Test, Assessment,

Exam APPs

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How to Find APPs - Android

• Go to Google.com• Select Play• Scroll down to Android APPs• Set Your Search Criteria (i.e. keywords such as

“Math”; price such as “All”, “Free” or “Paid”)• Android Math APPs• Android Math Practice, Drill, Exercise, Test,

Assessment, Exam APPs

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Number Recognition and Writing

• There is an incredible range of APPs relating to pre and early school number sense development (e.g. counting, recognizing and writing numbers).

• Learners as young as three years old can learn to draw the numbers following the touch screen prompts, • they can play games that match numbers, • they can count various objects shown to them and then

select the correct number, • then move to basic addition and subtraction.

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Games• While most mathematical games

are available online, packaging of these games as “APPs” simplifies the experience and makes the games available at the touch of an icon.

• The ability to play these games on a touch screen has the potential to enhance a learner’s enjoyment of these games.

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Drill & Practice

• There are of course a range of APPs dealing with math drills, multiplication tables and so on.

• Here one gets pretty standard math questions (you get to select from addition and subtraction, multiplication or division or mixed and at various levels).

• While this is drill type Math there is something about the touch screen that seems to draw learners in.

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Spatial and Number Puzzles

• There are numerous puzzles available which include spatial puzzles, moving through mazes and so forth.

• Content puzzles and challenges encourage out-the-box thinking (for all ages).

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Tools • One can also freely download some

useful tools such as a scientific or a graphical calculator, compass, clinometer, 3-dimensional graph generators and fantastic fractal generators.• For these tools, it suffices to simply

type the name into the search box and choose from a range of APPs available.

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Illusions

• There are a range of well-known and some less well known mathematical illusions to engage students.

• A typical one is this “missing square puzzle”. (Hint: This is a mathematical illusion).

Same area?

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Fun Facts

• These APPs show some wonderful “tricks” for young learners where they challenge others to “think of a number” and at the end of performing some operations on the numbers they can say what the number was.

• Algebraic representation reveals the trick in each beautifully.

• The fun math facts reveal some mathematical facts and patterns such as Pascal’s triangle, multiplication by 11 and some Proofs without words.

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References

• Here is a video that shows an APP for math reference:

Math Ref 2.3.2

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Math APPs by Strand

• Math Number and Operations: IPhone, IPad, Android

• Math Algebra: IPhone, IPad, Android• Math Geometry: IPhone, IPad, Android• Math Measurement: IPhone, IPad, Android• Math Data Analysis and Probability: IPhone,

IPad, Android• Math Process: IPhone, IPad, Android

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Math APPs by Kind

• Math Number Recognition and Writing: IPhone, IPad, Android

• Math Games: IPhone, IPad, Android • Math Puzzles: IPhone, IPad, Android • Math Illusions: IPhone, IPad, Android• Math Fun Facts: IPhone, IPad, Android • Math References: IPhone, IPad, Android • Math Video Clips: IPhone, IPad, Android • Math Tools: IPhone, IPad, Android

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Common Core Standards

• Common Core Standards APPs– IPhone– IPad– Android

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PART 4 – LAST WORDS

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What is Next?

• Desktop computers, laptop computers, notebook and netbook computers, as well as textbooks, will soon be replaced by a mobile tablet device.

• Soon, there will be an APP for every educational endeavor.

• Developers have to get ready!• Academia has to get ready!• Schools have to get ready!• Teachers have to get ready!• Students have to get ready!

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Thank YouFor more information please contact:

Dr. Gary Bitter: bitter@asu.eduwww.garybitter.com