ELED 422 - Technology Tools

Victoria Sopko

Tool Description Use

Little Bits Small electronic modules Great for doing STEAM related
that stick together activities with students in
magnetically. which they have to use their
creativity, engineering, and
design skills to build things.

1 Lightbot Video game/app that gets I would have students go

kids started on learning the through the different levels at
basics of programming. their own pace, using this as a
guide to the basics of
programming. Lightbot teaches
students skills such as
planning, programming, testing
and debugging.

2 Planner 5D Service/app that allows Great for doing STEAM related

anyone to create floor plans activities because it allows
and interior designs without students to work on their
any special skills. creativity, math and drafting
skills. I would have students
create their own room or house
to help students understand
the importance of computer
aided design and expose them
to a variety of industries that
use this type of technology.

3 Kodable Video game/app that is Teachers can have students

designed to teach computer play this beginner
science to elementary programming game and will be
students grades K-5. able to explain what its like to
be a programmer. They will be
exposed to critical thinking
skills, computer science
technology, programming, and
communication at an early
age.
I would do the first couple of
levels with the students and
then have them continue on to
the more difficult levels at their
own pace.

4 iMovie Video editing software Students could use iMovie to

 application sold by Apple create a movie trailer over a
Inc. book read in class, create a
presentation over a topic or
unit learned in class, or to tell a
digital story. All of these things
can be done in iMovie using
text, images, and music.

5 Sphero Spherical robot toy capable This is a tool that puts

of rolling around controlled programming into the
by a smartphone or tablet. students hands. If I were using
Spheros in my classroom I
would set up a course or maze
on the floor using tape.
Students would have to
program their robot to navigate
through the course using the
skills needed to measure
angles and distances as well as
adjust their program through
trial and error.

6 Green Screen by App that allows users to Students could use this to
Do Ink create green screen videos present any form of project in
and images on the iPad or class, individually or in small
iPhone. groups. This would be more fun
for the students than writing a
paper or taking a test. Also, I
could use this as a teacher by
creating videos with an
interesting background to grab
the students attention about a
certain topic and keep them
engaged.

7 Screencast-O- Simple screen capture tool I would use this tool mostly for
Matic that allows users to record myself as an educator. I could
whatever is happening on create instructional videos that
the PC screen and narrate students can go back to or for
as its happening. absent students. Students
could also use this app to
create a video that displays a
project they have created on
the screen and have a
narration included to go along
with it.

8 QR Code Trademark for a type of I could use QR codes in my

Generator matrix barcode. A barcode classroom to create
is a machine-readable educational scavenger hunts.
 optical label that contains The students must seek out the
information about the item QR codes that are posted in a
to which it is attached. given area. Students will scan
the code that will bring up their
next clue, or give them an
answer to a question or
information that they need to
complete the hunt.

9 Evernote Cross-platform, freemium Students can use Evernote to

app designed for note organize information, images,
taking, organizing and text and audio that they
archiving. learned about in class.
Evernotes cloud service allows
students to effectively
research, share and collaborate
using a variety of devices.
Teachers can also use Evernote
to organize their lessons,
activities, and other important
information.

10 Adobe Spark Free iPad app that helps This would be a great tool for
users create animated students to use to share an
videos in minutes. No idea, topic or unit they have
filming - just talk to tell a been studying. This is
story. especially useful for younger
learners because Adobe Spark
is very easy to use. Students
can create compelling social
graphics, web stories, and
animated videos.

11 Piktochart Web-based infographic This can be used to challenge

application that allows students by having them
users to easily create create an infographic over a
professional-grade certain topic learned during
infographics using themed class. This is challenging
templates. because students have to take
large amounts of information
and transform it into a visual
diagram. To create a nice
infographic, students will have
to work hard to research, take
notes and turn this information
into a visual display.

12 Binary Bracelets Creating bracelets with Students as young as 3rd

beads as a binary grade can grasp the concept of
representation of a persons using bracelets to represent
 name. binary code. After these
students create their own
names for their own bracelets,
they could then help even
younger students to create
their own bracelets. This would
help students at both grade
levels become more familiar
with patterns and binary code.

13 Pocket Universe App that will help you learn I could have students explore
the names of constellations, the different constellations that
bright stars and more. Hold they can see and find by using
up your iPhone or iPad in the app. Then I would have
front of you, and the app them pick their favorite
will use the built-in compass constellation that they found
to display the same view of and draw it out on a different
the sky you see - but one piece of paper or even a poster
thats complete with names board. They would have to
and information. draw the constellations and
label the different stars found
within them. This activity could
be considered an art project as
well as a science project.

14 Crazy Gears Puzzle game where kids This app supports STEAM
must use their reasoning learning because it is a
and problem-solving skills technology tool that students
to manipulate color gears, can use in math (learning
chains, rods and pulleys. about different shapes to
create their gears) and science
(learning about more complex
notions such as tension, motion
and gravity).

15 Canva Tool that includes many Students can use Canva to

easy-to-use features and communicate what they have
functionality where users learned through a graphic
can create a variety of creation. They can create
engaging content that gets presentations, posters and one-
shared. page documents to show what
they have learned after a unit
or lesson. These designs can
be shared with the entire class
or give their classmates or
teacher an opportunity to
collaborate on the same
design. I would also use Canva
as a teacher to create
meaningful posters and
 graphic designs to hang in my
classroom.

16 Code.org Non-profit dedicated to Every student K-12 (and above)

expanding computer has the opportunity to learn
science to everyone for how to code with code.org.
free. Depending on the grade level I
am teaching, I would look over
the curriculum overview on
their website in that specific
grade level. This curriculum for
all grades consists of multiples
courses and includes about 20
lessons that can be used and is
completely free.

17 MIT App Inventor Lets users develop Using this in the classroom
applications for Android would help students to
phones using a web transform the complex
browser and either a language of coding into visual,
connected phone or drag-and-drop building blocks.
emulator. Students could use higher-
order thinking skills to work in
groups and create their own
app that displays their
interests. This app helps
students transition from being
users of technology to
becoming creators of it. Many
educations have started using
the app to develop apps in
support of their own instruction
objectives, such as classroom
management.

18 WeVideo Cloud-based video editor Students can use this video-

that can be used in a making tool and their creativity
browser or in an app. to collaboratively build an
engaging video or story that
allows them to express their
voice. I would have students
create a video using WeVideo
instead of having them take a
test or write a report over a
topic or unit. This is will
increase engagement in the
classroom and students will
have fun while doing it.

19 Easel.ly Website that features Students can create

 thousands of free infographics to use as a to go
infographic templates and guide. They can be saved as an
design objects users can image right onto their
customize to create and computer or phone and then
share their visual ideas use it as a way to study the
online. information on the go. Creating
infographics would also help
students to learn how to create
a nice presentation and layout
of their material.

20 Cargo-Bot Puzzle game where users By playing this game, students

program a robot to move will learn programming
crates. concepts such as looping,
procedures and conditional
programming. This game
allows students to practice the
skills of breaking down a large
problem into smaller, easier
steps. This game could be used
in math because users have to
count how many creates there
are, and decide how many
moves it will take to complete
the challenge in the smallest
amount of steps.