Useful iPad Apps and Activities to Teach Social Studies

July1, 2014
"Practical iPad Uses in The Classroom" is a series of posts I started a few weeks ago in which I share with teachers some practical examples of tasks and activities involving the use of iPad in class. If you have missed the previous posts then check them out here and here.

Today I am sharing with you a great presentation created by Karlaholt. In this slideshow, Karlaholt features  three example activities of how to use iPad apps to help you with teaching social studies .

Activity 1
Based on the communities students have studied ( Peru, Tunisia, Ukraine and india) students are asked to create a slideshow presentation using Haiku Deck app. In this presentations students are to highlight the impact of geography and culture on the quality of life within communities. Slide 3 in the slideshow below has a visual guide on how students can use Haiku Deck to create presentations.

For more apps to use on this activity check out this resource:

5 Good Presentation Apps for Students and Teachers

Activity 2
In this activity students are asked to create  an illustrative postcard of the community they want to visit. The poscard should include a short description and an explanation of traditions and cultural customs of that community.
The app suggested for this activity is  Photocard Lite. Directions on how to use this app are included in slide 4.

For more apps to use on this activity check out this resource:
5 Good iPad Apps for Creating Classroom Posters

Activity 3
In this activity, students are asked to created animated images to compare and contrast the contributing factors to quality of life between the communities mentioned in the previous tasks. The app suggested for this activity is Videolicious. Slide 7 includes visual directions on how students can use this app.

For more apps to use on this activity check out these resources:

• 3 Good Apps to Easily Create Animated Videos on iPad
• 8 iPad Apps for Creating Stop Motion Video

Grade 3 Social Studies: iPad Station Cards from karlaholt

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iPad Bingo Card with Great iPad Apps and Activities to Use in Class

June , 2014
Over the last few weeks, I have been intermittently posting articles featuring different iPad activities teachers can use in their class with students. The last thing I published in this regard is these 5 iPad learning tasks. I am doing this in reply to the multiple requests I received from teachers asking for suggestions of iPad-based activities to use in class.

Today I am sharing with you an iPad Bingo card created by iPad Bingo. This card is available for free download from this page. iPad Bingo card is a chart that features 6 iPad apps and with each of these apps is attached a set of activities to be achieved through the use of that app. These activities are divided into three levels with different layers of difficulty.

 Here is an example of the activities that can be done through Drive app:
Level 1: Create and share a document using Google Drive
Level 2: Take a picture with the iPad and upload it to your Drive account
Level 3: Students take a picture and upload it to their Drive account or they can create and collaborate on a document.
The six apps included in this card are :

• Drive app
• Skitch
• 30 Hands
• Popplet
• Doceri
• Touchcast

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Five iPad Learning Tasks You Should Be Able to Do with Your Students

June 2, 2014
If you are running out of ideas of how to leverage iPad in your classroom teaching then the 5 tasks I have for you today are enough to establish your workflow and get your students engaged in interactive learning tasks. These tasks are designed by isupport and are geared towards providing teachers with a general outline of how they can integrate iPad in the classroom. I have spent some time going trough each of these tasks and have found them really worth sharing with you. This work reminds me of a similar work done Greg Kuloweic  entitled"The iPad Ideas Book".

Each of the tasks featured here are structured in such a way that cover different stages of Bloom's thinking taxonomy.They also include a brief write-up about the objective of the task, how it can be achieved and the apps that can be used to complete it. The  five tasks that are outlined here are :

• Task 1: Create a movie
• Task 2: Create a podcast
• Task 3: Create an interactive book
• Task 4: Create a presentation
• Task 5 : Create a PDF

Let me share with you the first task and you can check the rest from this link.

Task 1 : Create a movie

Outcome:
make me a 2 minute video. This task will present workflow which you can adapt to suit your curriculum outcomes.
Context:
Role play and character interview. Your students will put themselves into the position of an individual during a significant historical event.

Procedure:
Level 1:Remembering
Research dates, names, places in Safari app. Collect mages and text, and don't forget to reference all of your data.

Level 2: Understanding
Review your text and images. Your images are saved in the Photos app. Which images will you be using to illustrate your work? Compose your supporting text in Notes app, don't forget to reference where your photos came from.

Level 3: Applying and Analyzing
Use your note paper to storyboard your movie. Consider how each scene might be shot. Will you be interviewing a friend? which locations will you record in? If you can draw the scenes great! If not write down a brief overview of your proposed movie.

Carefully script your movie, how does your character feel? which class does he belong to and what can he do considering his position? Present your storyboard and script to your teacher for assessment. Once approved move onto making your movie!

Level 4: Analysing and Creating
Use iMovie app to bring all of your media together. Use the still images in your Photos library and place titles on the slides from your notes. Record and edit your movie all within iMovie.

Level 5: Collaboration
Preview your movie. When you are happy you will need to share it with your teacher. From iMovie select the share button and choose YouTube. If you use Google Apps for Education or have a YouTube account, sign in and select Unlisted under the Privacy option. Now just share your YouTube link with the teacher

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