BrainPOP offers basic information about 54 science topics for elementary and middle school students. There are also a variety of activities, movies (animations), and quizzes to go with each topic.
Type of Material:
This is basically animated Reference Material
Technical Requirements:
The movies in this site require Macromedia Flash Player
Identify Major Learning Goals:
BrainPOP makes learning science fun in a safe environment without sacrificing accurate information.
Target Student Population:
Elementary and Middle School Students
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
None
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
BrainPOP is an interactive website that features 54 science content topics. The science topics include atmosphere, atoms, batteries, dinosaurs, earth's structure, electricity, energy, food chain, gravity, insects, solar system, land biomes, magnetism, photosynthesis, rainforest, rock cycle, seasons, sound, states of matter, weather, underwater world, volcano, water cycle, and many more. BrainPOP not only has information about numerous science topics, but also a variety of activities to go with each topic including animated movies, comic strips, experiments, activity pages, interactive quizzes and a personal question & answer forum.
Concerns:
The rest of the screen is cluttered and pop-ups mar the concentration. The quizzes are straight ?drill and practice? with little feedback.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
Although the BrainPOP website was designed to provide information for elementary and middle school students (K-8), it can be utilized by preservice teachers as a resource and/or incorporated into science lessons for their students. Information is presented through interesting animated movies. This site could be used in variety of ways and at different educational levels. Instructors of science method courses could encourage preservice teachers to use the site as a resource for basic information about science topics (i.e., electricity; insects; food chain; atoms). The preservice teachers could incorporate the science topic website into their lessons for the students their field classroom. This would give a technology connection and enhancement to their lessons. The fee for a school?s unlimited access of the movies seems to be reasonable at $99.95 per school per year.
Concerns:
Since the limit is five movies, there is a concern that preservice teachers will have to take that into consideration when developing their lesson plan. The preservice teachers should be encouraged to develop their own quizzes that would match the pedagogy of their teaching. Students are offered prizes by completing sections such prizes include BrainPOP's monthly raffle of Nintendo Color Game Boys and Nintendo Game Cartridges,
Super Mario Deluxe. Some instructors my not agree with this technique.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The animated science topic movies are excellent. They are informative and entertaining. The movies, activity pages, and interactive quizzes are appealing and fun for students. The website limits the number of movies to view to five. Then a note appears that if you would like unlimited use as a teacher or parent then there is a fee.
Concerns:
The movies play within a small window and are animations. The rest of the screen is cluttered and pop-ups mar the concentration. The quizzes are straight ?drill and practice? with little feedback. However, this is a well-designed website.
Creative Commons:
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