Instant Interactive | 4 1/2 Stars | Math

Summary

The good: Clever visual aids, rich graphics, big buttons, solve problems using number lines, wooden blocks, facts, and hints.

The bad: Full version only allows work with up to 10 students.

The bottom line: The best math drills app I've ever used. Straight forward, customizable, easy to configure, conveniently placed visual aids. The "lite" version is packed with features, and free.

Price: $1.99

Reviewed on an: iPhone 3G

Version reviewed: 2.0

This Week In Ed Tech’s Review

As the name implies, Math Drills does precisely what it says: namely, helps students learn their basic math facts. The "lite" version is so full-featured, you may not feel compelled to purchase the paid version. 

At Coronita Elementary School in Corona, CA, students who have not yet mastered their basic facts, receive a lunch-recess intervention we lovingly refer to as "Math Lab." In the math lab, students work with tutors on a variety of basic math-related activities, such as math hopscotch, flash cards, and math chants. One app I come back to in my own class, time and time again, is Math Drills. I wouldn't say the iPod touch offers the only way to learn basic math facts, but it's definitely another way for students to interact with their basic math facts, and sometimes, it's exactly what some students need.

When you first launch the program, the welcome screen gives users the option to review or practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts - or a mixture of all of them. There are two key differences between review and practice modes. The practice mode is timed, while the review mode offers onscreen tips that are unique to each math problem. These "hints" are tiny animations, such as a number line that offers text clues and visual cues; counting cubes; and a number chart. There is even a 9-times "hand" icon that teaches students the "nines" finger multiplication trick. Each animation is triggered in increments of time and repeats until the student makes their selection. With a swipe of the finger, users can navigate back and forth from among these cleverly implemented visual aids.

Math Drills offers a generous settings menu. For example, the input method can be set for keypad or multiple choice. It's also possible to select how the number sentences are displayed: either vertically, horizontally, or a combination of both. For students who have mastered their math facts, a great enrichment activity is to set the questions from "numbers" to "operators" (found in the Answers setting). Here, instead of number fact questions, users are given the numbers, and they have to choose the appropriate operator. Practice mode offers a 10-question timed quiz.

Three compelling reasons to consider upgrading to the paid version are: 1) if you can't stand looking at the chalkboard theme; 2) if you need to work with multiple students with a limited number of iPods; or 3) you want to offer your students feedback on how long they tend to take with certain problems. Features found in the paid version are:
- Work with up to 10 students.
- Ability to take tests and earn high scores and awards.
- Select from up to 12 different themes (Drills Lite users only the Chalkboard theme)
- Set the number of problems for reviews, practices and tests.
- Smart Drills, which places emphasis on problems answered incorrectly and/or slowly.
- Visually track student progress with accuracy and speed graphs.



In Pearson PLC | 4+ Stars | Language Arts

Summary

The good: Free; good reenforcement of nouns, verbs, adjectives, plural nouns, and so on. Users can email their Mad Lib from the app. Play over and over again. Save trees.

The bad: Few stories, but it’s free, so don’t complain. You can always buy the full version which has over 20 stories for $3.99. 

The bottom line: K-8 students love the outrageous stories that evolve. Tests your parts of speech skills in an entertaining way. 

Price: Free

Reviewed on an: iPhone 3G

Version reviewed: 1.1

This Week In Ed Tech’s Review

by Buzz Garwood

Remember Mad Libs-- That little tablet filled with “fill-in-the-blank” style worksheets? I used to love soliciting adjectives, nouns, and verbs from my brother and sister on long car rides, in anticipation of hearing what outrageous story would emerge.

Mad Libs for iPhone and iPod touch offers all the wackiness of the paper based version without the need for a pencil in this new interactive and digital platform. For those who grew up without ever playing Mad Libs, or you need a refresher, here’s how to play: It can be played by one, two, three, or forty. One player, the READER, selects one of the stories. The READER does not tell anyone what the story is about. Instead, he/she asks the other players, the WRITERS, to tell him/her words. These words are used to fill in the blank spaces in the story. On the iPod or iPhone, the READER types the words. 

Mad Libs educates and entertains simultaneously. One feature that’s interesting from an educator’s standpoint is the “hint” button - a feature virtually impossible to integrate in a paper-based version. One nine year-old I saw playing momentarily forgot what adjectives were, so she tapped the hint button and suddenly, several adjectives began to drift across the screen. She simply selected one, and the word populated the blank space. 

Mad Libs Lite offers four story themes: Letter to a friend back home; Vacations; Driving in the car; and How to enjoy yourself on the beach. The app is free, so remember: you get what you pay for -- In this case, you get about ten minutes of entertainment. However, if you decide that you want more, you can purchase the full version and you’ll get over five times more stories. I recommend starting with the Lite version and decide later whether or not you want to upgrade.

In Amazon | 4 Stars | E-Readers

Summary

The good: Free; books are backed up on Amazon.com; convenient synchronization between iPhone and Kindle; Kindle not required to use this app.

The bad: Kindle edition periodicals, such as magazines, newspapers, and blogs are not available for viewing on iPhone; can't highlight a section or make notes.

The bottom line: Great e-reader whether you're a Kindle owner or not; 350,000 titles available from the Kindle Store, optimized for Safari on iPhone or iPod touch.

Price: Free

Reviewed on an: iPhone 3G

Version reviewed: 1.1

This Week In Ed Tech’s Review

by Buzz Garwood

Kindle for iPhone is a e-reader application for the iPhone (and iPod Touch) you can use, even if you don’t own a Kindle. When you launch the app for the first time, you are required to input your Amazon account information (e-mail address and Amazon password). If you don't have an Amazon account, you'll need to create one first, or the app won’t work because when you purchase books, you're buying them from Amazon. iPhone immediately checks Amazon for new items you have already purchased, and synchronizes. If you’ve bought ebooks for the Kindle in the past, these titles appear as "archived items." In my case, all three books I had purchased on my Kindle appeared on my iPhone, which was very nice.

To buy books, you just select the "Get Books" button on the top-right of the screen. At that moment, Mobile Safari is launched, and you are whisked away to the Kindle Store. It’s disappointing the whole experience can’t just stay within the app, but once you’re in the Kindle Store and begin browsing by category, you quickly forget how klunky it feels, and just find yourself looking for a good book. One book in particular, "Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know," caught my attention. Scrolling down the page, you’re given the option to buy with 1-Click. You then select which device you'd like the book to be sent to: Kindle (if you have one) or your iPhone. If you select iPhone, you’re promptly asked if would like to go back to the app OR if I would like to keep shopping. In any event, you can be reading your new book in under a minute. 

All purchases are archived on the Amazon's servers, so in the event you ever purchase a Kindle, or move to another iPhone, books will be available for download any time. You can also receive free book samples and read the first chapter, so you can try before you buy. Unfortunately, Kindle newspapers, magazines and blogs are not currently available on the iPhone or iPod touch.

The reading experience is less than ideal for long books because it’s annoying to flick the page from left to right so often. Most people turn the page every couple hundred words. Flicking every 50-75 words gets old fast. Another caveat is that the LCD screen can be hard on the eyes for extended periods of time. The iPhone's battery life isn't that long, especially if you're using your iPhone to do all it's core features. Ask yourself how much of “Moby Dick” you think you can squeeze in between texting, placing calls, checking email, and listening to music.

If you tap the middle of the screen, the Home button appears along the top the screen, which can take you back to a listing of all your books. Along the bottom of the screen, you can tap the an icon that looks like a book, and it takes you to a "go to" section. From there, you can tap to view the Cover, Table of Contents, Beginning, or go straight to a specific location. You can also get to your notes and bookmarks from there. Unfortunately, you can't actually annotate on the iPhone! You can only read notes and annotations you created on your Kindle (if you have one). Adding this feature should be a no brainer. Along the bottom of the screen, you can also tap the "font size" icon and select from five font sizes, and three text colors. At the bottom, there's a white/blue slider-like progress bar. Sliding it left to right can take you to any location. The accellerometer allows readers to choose between landscape and portrait mode, and then lock this preference by pressing a lock button. 

If you do own a Kindle, your iPhone becomes a terriffic Kindle companion. For example, automatic synchronization of your last page read between devices with Amazon Whispersync is a godsend. Just the other day, I went to the beach and realized I had left my Kindle at home. At first, I was disappointed because I was hoping to get some good reading in. Then I remembered that Kindle for IPhone includes Whispersync's data synchronization. I simply launched Kindle for iPhone, selected the book I'd been reading on my Kindle, and continued where I left off. When I got home that night, I picked up my Kindle and picked up right where I left off from the iPhone.