Using Science Apps with Voice Thread

Today I started out by experimenting more with the Voice Thread app and then proceeded to try out some science apps I found here.  Voice Thread already has so many potential applications for educational activities and now the mobile app opens up even more possibilities.  While experimenting with the science apps I also came up with some ideas for using them with Voice Thread.  

Voice Thread - iPod,iPad (free) - Voicethread, a great way to “Create and share dynamic conversations around documents, snapshots, diagrams and videos” has been around for a while but with the iOS app that was just released at the end of Nov. it is even easier to use on a mobile device as you can capture video or film with your device’s camera and then upload it directly to your Voicethread where you can narrate and “doodle” on it. Then you can easily share it with others so they can comment as well using video, voice, or text.  This app is great for classroom iPod stations with multiple users because all work is stored in the cloud and students just need to login to access it.  If you want to use images you have on other devices it’s easy to access them by using a Dropbox  (iPad/iPod, Free) account and app.  

Ideas for Classroom Use - 26 Interesting Ways to use Voice Thread in the Classroom

 Project Noah - iPod, IPad (free) - Great app for exploring the biodiversity around us and sharing findings with people all over the world! This app allows students to take photos of flora and fauna and then document and submit their findings to Project Noah.  Through the Project Noah network they can get help identifying their finds, see what other people are finding through an interactive map, as well as join missions and earn badges for completing specific tasks such as reporting 25 wildlife spottings.   Students do need to create an account but then all their data is stored in the cloud so this app also works well with iPad stations who have multiple users   

 Ideas for Classroom Use - Take students on short field trips around the school grounds and have them document and share their findings using this app.  Then have them look at what other people in other parts of the world are observing. They can then take screen shots of different plants or  animals and use Voice Thread to compare and contrast the environments and make observations about how different plants or animals have adapted. They can share these with other students who can also make observations.  

 Molecules  iPad, Ipod (free) - Molecules is an application for viewing three-dimensional renderings of molecules and manipulating them using your fingers.  

 Ideas for Classroom Use -  Have students compare and contrast molecules by taking screen shots of two or more models and then uploading them to Voice Thread. They can then record their observations and share them with other students who can comment on them.
  
Self Assembly  iPad only, (free) - Self Assembly lets non scientists figure out how to form interesting structures by manipulating the shape of the molecules, the concentration of the solution, and its temperature.

 Ideas for Classroom Use - This simulation allows students to change several variables.  Have students hypothesize about various outcomes related to these variables and then test their hypotheses by running the simulation. Have students record and share their hypotheses, observations, and explanation for variances using narrated screen capture images on Voice Thread
  
 Pocket Heart iPad(6.99) - This app demonstrates all components and functions of the heart in 3D.

 Ideas for Classroom Use - If you are teaching a unit on the heart this app is great for a demonstration (hook the iPad up to your overhead) or for a station where students can interact with the model. With that said I think this app is a little narrow in scope for the $ and doesn’t allow much interaction beyond looking at the heart from different angles and taking quizzes on the the parts of the heart.