5 New Apps to Spur STEM Learning

A monthly showcase of the latest mobile apps for educators and students. This month's roundup features apps for science, technology, engineering, and math instruction.

  • IL&FS releases 12 new science and math apps, under the name Exploriments. The apps use simulations, interactivity, and a simplified touch-n-move feature to help students learn concepts like electricity, linear motion, and buoyancy and flotation. Free-$3.99; iPad.

  • isygames has released D. Bones for the iPad and iPad 2. The app teaches kids about the human skeletal system via puzzles, quizzes, and supplemental information about every major human bone. Designed with vibrantly illustrated cartoon graphics, the app encourages users to remember bone locations and advance their knowledge of the skeletal system as a whole. Available in both English and Spanish. $1.99; iPad.

  • Brainchild launched Achiever! for iPad at last month's FETC conference in Orlando. Designed for elementary and middle school students, the app has state-specific and Common Core content available for standards-based instruction and assessment for math and language arts. For each standard, students take a pretest to establish their baseline scores. If scores are low, students can watch instructional videos and work through the program's study mode to improve proficiency. Student's work can be synced with online reports for data-driven instruction. Free; iPad.

  • NASA released Sector 33, an educational game designed to challenge students in middle school and above to use basic math and problem-solving skills. Players act as air traffic controllers guiding planes through airspace, adjusting the planes' path and speed to safely reach certain spots in the sky in the fastest time possible while keeping the planes a specific distance from each other. Free; iPhone, iPod touch, iPad.

  • Inside the World of Dinosaurs, M5859 Studios, is a comprehensive and fully interactive digital dinosaur encyclopedia narrated by British actor Stephen Fry. Featuring the A to Z of dinosaurs--from Archeopteryx to Zuniceratops--the app contains a library of 60 fully animated and interactive dinosaurs with 3D objects, sound effects, and animation. $13.99; iPad.

About the Author

Stephen Noonoo is an education technology journalist based in Los Angeles. He is on Twitter @stephenoonoo.

Featured

  • Stylized illustration showing cybersecurity elements like shields, padlocks, and secure cloud icons on a neutral, minimalist digital background

    Microsoft Announces Host of Security Advancements

    Microsoft has announced major cybersecurity advancements across its product portfolio and practices. The work is part of its Secure Future Initiative (SFI), a multiyear cybersecurity transformation the company calls the largest engineering project in company history.

  • reDesign Future9 report

    ReDesign Updates 9 Essential Competencies for K-12 Students

    ReDesign, a provider of support and resources for competency-based education, has updated its Future9 Competency Framework to reflect the essential skills K-12 students need today to thrive in their education and workforce journeys.

  • augmented reality goggles on a desk in a dark, shut-down production lab with neon accents and scattered tools

    Microsoft Transitioning Away from HoloLens Mixed Reality Hardware

    Microsoft has confirmed that hardware development for its HoloLens mixed reality headset has officially come to an end.

  • horizontal stack of U.S. dollar bills breaking in half

    ED Abruptly Cancels ESSER Funding Extensions

    The Department of Education has moved to close the door on COVID relief funding for schools, declaring that "extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion."