POPtalk

We are super excited to present the 4 winning badge designs in our 2013 Moby badge idea competition.

We received 100s of amazing entries from all over the world, showing such a wonderful range of ideas and talent that Moby nearly blew a fuse trying to decide his favourites. You’ll find each new design and the winning idea that inspired it below.

Each winner will see their badge made into a real life Moby badge, and receive a first print set. Winners and special mentions will be notified by email in the next couple of days. Thank you everyone who entered!

“Mo-be, or not Mo-be? That is the question”

Why we liked this idea: Our Shakespeare topic is very popular but we’ve never had a badge design to go with it! We loved the idea of Moby posing as Hamlet during his famous “Alas, poor Yorick…” speech. Or should that be “Alas, poor Tim”?
Congratulations Lauren R, Oakdale Junior!

Mo-Bee

Why we liked this idea: What’zzz not to like about a buzzing, flying Mo-bee? Someonezzz clearly been inzzzpired by our Honeybees topic!
Congratulations Ivy I, Oakdale Junior!

Mobylisa (with an enigmatic smile)

Why we liked this idea: The most famous painting in the word, the Monalisa, by Leonardo Da Vinci, is an inspired idea for a Moby badge. But look at his enigmatic smile! What can he be thinking..?
Congratulations Araz T, Kuwait English school!

Tuten-Moby, Robot Pharaoh of Egypt

Why we liked this idea: We’ve had a Mummy badge but not a Pharaoh badge. Apparently whoever discovers the tomb of TutenMoby will be cursed forever!
Congratulations Nicole G, Saint Joseph Institutional Elementary School!

Special mentions:

There were some ideas that, while they didn’t make final design, are worthy of note. The two entries below are special mentions and will be receiving a pack of new badges each.

MerMoby by Eleanor T, St John Baptist school

80s Synth Moby by Kelli Louise P, Longton Lane school

Related Posts:

• Design a BrainPOP badge competition

We saw such a terrific video on the BrainPOP Educators blog this week that we had to re-blog to bring it to the attention of our UK readers.

“Mooresville North Carolina has gotten national publicity for their successful implementation of a one to one laptop program. So we were thrilled to see that BrainPOP was featured in a video about Mooresville on EdWeek’s “Digital Curricula Evolving” video series. In this video, see how 6th grade teacher, Judy Cohen, assigns BrainPOP videos as homework “to introduce, to reinforce and to remediate.” She also describes how video is engaging today’s students. “it doesn’t replace the interaction, but it does help them to formulate questions.” Cohen is clearly a gifted teacher, and she describes how using online video has profoundly changed the way she teaches.”

Andrew Gardner, Senior Manager, BrainPOP Educators
BrainPOP in Mooresville NC – a Video from EdWeek

The video really does highlight how BrainPOP is embraced as a resource in Judy’s classroom. Even though it’s a school several 1000 miles away from most readers of this blog we think the themes are universal.

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In Simple Machines by the Museum of Science + Industry Chicago from our GameUp UK section you must use found objects to build simple machines to help a small robot to find the parts he needs.

This game encourages logical thinking, experimentation, and an understanding of forces and simple machines such as inclined planes and pulleys. Students can experiment with different objects and identify the causes and effects of their choices, and work out the most efficient ways to get the parts they need.

How does Simple Machines work?

You must guide Twitch a cute (and lazy!) robot to the parts he needs to gather. The parts are out of Twitch’s reach and you must choose an item to help you achieve your goal from a selection of found objects. Each level has a different kind of simple machine concept to employ to achieve the goal including:

• Inclined planes
• Levers
• Wheel and Axle
• Pulleys

What do you have to do?

There are robot parts scattered across the museum that Twitch needs to find. But Twitch is small and not very strong so how can he get past obstacles and get to parts out of his reach? By building simple machines with bits and pieces he finds laying around the museum of course!

The game shows the player the target and shows any controls needed to control Twitch. The player is then given options on what items to use to get access to the target. In the example below you can see that Twitch needs to to create an inclined plane to the part on top of the radio and has the option of a model of the Tower of Pisa, a pencil, half a sandwich, or a triangular wooden block to make one with.

The player must choose an item then use the controls to get Twitch to the part. If he runs out of available force in the bar at the bottom he fails the level and must try again. Each level showcases a different type of simple machine the student must master, and at the end of each level the game briefly explains about the type of simple machine and a real life example of one.

The game lets students know how much force Twitch is expending. When they don’t manage to achieve the goal they can try as many times as they like allowing them to experiment and see all the various outcomes from the options given.

This game is very flexible and can be used individually, in groups, or as a front-of-class resource. Similarly a level could be set for homework. At the end of the game on the win-screen (shown below) students can see how much force they’ve used on each level and compare it with their peers or try to beat their own scores.

What makes it a good educational game?

• The game reinforces the idea that mistakes and experimentation isn’t a bad thing. Students can explore all of the possibilities and outcomes without worrying about losing points or “being wrong”. This helps them grasp the concepts behind the simple machines shown much more thoroughly.
• The game is replayable as students can compete against themselves and each other to find the best solutions to problems and compete to spend the least amount of force on tasks. Completed levels are easily chosen again in the same session so a student could chose to play a level as many times as they like.
• As students can see what works, what doesn’t, and works the most efficiently they can get a firmer grasp of the principles, uses, and limitations of the simple machines explored.
• For any students getting frustrated they can watch the related BrainPOP movies under the game without having to navigate away from the game or losing their place.
• Like all the games, Simple Machines has a dedicated quiz that you can use to check students’ comprehension before or after the game.
• We might as well face it, Twitch is painfully adorable and we love to see him reach his goal (and snack on berries on the load screen).

Using the game with a class – hints and tips

• Experimenting is great and the best way for kids to get a handle on this game and the concepts involved. When I play this game with students I prefer to let them lead and occasionally ask them questions about what they’re doing and their choices. They often reveal they know more than they think they do!
• You could make a chart and have students submit their high scores to have them compete against each other for the most efficient use of Twitch’s force.
• This is a really nice game to play as a class with a student at the front of the class controlling Twitch on an interactive whiteboard while the rest of the class votes on what they should do to win.
• You could have students recreate problems and levels with bits of arts and crafts materials in the classroom or even make levels of their own that their classmates have to complete. If you have some real computer whizzes you could even let them give it a try in Scratch.

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• You sunk my battleship!
• Going bananas with Makey Makey and GameUp UK
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COMPETITION TIME! Would you like to see YOUR design on a new Moby badge?

This competition is open to anyone under 16. All you need to do is:

1. Download and print this Badge Design Competition template. IMPORTANT: Use the big circle for your design and keep inside the lines as best you can. We’ve added an “actual size” circle too so you have an idea of how big your badge would be in real life.
2. We like to make badges that are inspired by our topics. Your design must incorporate Moby in some way – perhaps in costume, or in a famous historical setting, or in the style of your favourite artist! The possibilities are endless. For inspiration see some of the badges we’ve made in the past. But be creative as you like!
3. Don’t take too long! The competition closes midnight 26th May 2013.
4. Scan or photograph it and send it to us using the form below. You could also post your entry to:

Moby Badge Competition
BrainPOP UK
58 St. Aldates
Oxford
OX1 1ST

We’ll pick our favourite design which will be made into a REAL Moby badge later this summer. The winner will not only be sent a first edition print of their badge, but also the first person in the world to get a pack of our upcoming new badge collection.

Submission criteria

• Finished work must be submitted using the Badge Design Competition template
• This competition is for children up to 16 years old
• The winner will be chosen by the BrainPOP UK team (Moby and BrainPOP’s decision is final)
• The winning design will be interpreted by the BrainPOP design team and re-created in the BrainPOP graphics style (BrainPOP’s design decision is final)
• Entries must be received by midnight on 26th May 2013 (entries received after the competition deadline will not be considered)
• The winners will be contacted by email. Failure to provide a working email address will void your entry
• Winning entries will be showcased on this blog
• You can read our full Terms and Conditions on our website

Good luck, everyone!

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• BrainPOP and National Science and Engineering week
• Sparking imaginations with story cubes
• Get Cubed Competition
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• And…action! Make a Tim & Moby movie competition

Wow! It seems we’ve been shortlisted in the “Online skills and training” category in the Nominet Internet Awards 2013!

What are the awards?

“The awards celebrate the achievements and innovation of UK internet initiatives. Now in their seventh year, the annual awards aim to showcase projects which help to make the internet a more secure, open, accessible and diverse experience for all.”

http://nia.nominet.org.uk/

Our category is sponsored by the venerable Open University. This is the criteria that entrants had to meet:

• Helping people to learn new skills or knowledge using the internet
• Using the internet to provide access to education or information
• Websites or tools that help to empower people online
• Improving skills to help users make the most of the internet

Well, Tim, Moby and The BrainPOPpers are knocked sideways even to be considered to stand alongside the other worthy entrants.

Now, can you help?

We would love it, if our fans from far and wide, could add their vote to our entry. Votes don’t decide the outcome but are taken into account.

It would mean the world to us if we knew folks out there thought enough of us to give us a nod. The Nominet Internet Awards evening is on 4th July 2013 (at the British Library in London, no less) so please get your vote in before then if you can.

To do this just fill in this very short form, and select the “Online skills and training” category > then “BrainPOP UK”. Simple.

Thanks for your support everyone, we’ll keep you updated!

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Google Apps for Education is the free browser based set of office and productivity tools, starting to be adopted by many schools across the UK, and the world. And we have our own free Google app your school can download.

Our short screencast shows some of the ways you can combine BrainPOP and and Google apps:

A great blog to read if you are thinking about setting up Google Apps in school is http://ianaddison.net/, run by the ever helpful @ianaddison. It is super supportive, offering advice to other teachers or administrators setting up their domain.

But leaving to one side the technology, what ideas for teaching and learning does Google Apps bring to the table?

One increasingly popular approach is Project Based Learning.

BrainPOP has long been a go to resource for project or enquiry based learning and with the addition of the BrainPOP Google app students and teachers can use BrainPOP outside the classroom too.

(Not sure about project based learning? Download this comprehensive primer to PBL –  ”Work that matters: The teacher’s guide to project-based learning” which describes PBL as “…students designing, planning, and carrying out an extended project that produces a publicly-exhibited output such as a product, publication, or presentation.“)

In PBL:

1. Students must work together to solve real life problems, and present solutions to the outside world.
2. It is designed to foster communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills. The skills students will need to work in a globally connected online world.

If you are interested in exploring PBL practice, we suggest the blogs of Tait Coles or Darren Mead for amazing teacher eye views of planning and implementing PBL with different student cohorts.

Being able to use Google Apps is ideal for students engaged in project work because it lets them communicate with their teacher and each other in a safe environment and collaborate on the production of documents in real time by sharing.

The point of project based learning is really to let students discover their own answers, the teacher acts more akin to a facilitator than an instructor. Sometimes students can lack the necessary ‘scaffold’ of knowledge to formulate solutions and this is something BrainPOP can help support.

Learning subject knowledge is only part of the process of Project based learning. Doing this quickly and efficiently means students can get on with the other vital elements such as thinking about and applying their learning. On BrainPOP UK not only will you find topics that cover curriculum areas, you will find a huge number of skills based topics from public speaking to writing business letters.

Google Apps + BrainPOP is a great fit for Project Based Learning because it gives students ‘anytime access’ to information without telling them all the answers (you can’t cut and paste from a BrainPOP movie!).

It lets them discover what they find interesting without sticking rigidly to a curriculum.

After all, life’s not like that… why should learning be?

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• WEBINAR: Is your school thinking about Google Apps?
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To better support our teachers we’ve created a new section called “Teacher Use“.

You can access it from the main website home page or from this blog.

It brings together all the very best articles and materials to help you get the most out of BrainPOP, and offer up inspiration from the classroom stories we’ve gathered in the last few years.

We’ve divided it up into the following sections, some practical, some exploratory.

• Spread the Word Kit – A collection of resources, support materials and technical tips to help you introduce and embed BrainPOP into your school.
• BrainPOP lesson tips and techniques – A digest of quick wins to effective use of BrainPOP in class. It’s a great place to start.
• BrainPOP and SEN children – This is where we have brought together (and will continue to add) stories about how BrainPOP has been successfully used with SEN childen.
• BrainPOP and the curriculum – Read stories of how schools have subscribed to BrainPOP to complement their curriculum choices.
• Create outstanding lessons – Using BrainPOP as a way to engage kids and build terrific learning experiences.
• Use BrainPOP to stimulate further learning – Ideas to help you expand your use of BrainPOP, or simple inspiration to enhance your school’s digital learning.
• BrainPOP for NQTs – A couple of case studies explaining why BrainPOP is a big hit with newly qualified teachers. Always happy to find more!
• Making Great Use of Mobile Technology – Mobile is a HUGE part of the future of BrainPOP. Learn how to get started with BrainPOP mobile in this section.
• Using ICT effectively – Experience how BrainPOP can add tremendous value to your ICT strategy and demonstrate modern and effective ICT teaching.
• Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum – See how BrainPOP can be used to promote opportunities to deliver literacy learning in ANY subject.

All these sections will be constantly developed and improved over time. If you have any feedback or suggestions (or you’d like to feature your own experiences of BrainPOP!) please get in touch.

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Did you know an increasing number of schools are using their Pupil Premium to fund a subscription to BrainPOP?

This funding has recently risen from £600 to £900 per eligible pupil so a typical 2 form entry primary school can buy a whole school, 24/7, 3 year subscription for approx 1 x Pupil Premium.

Why should you consider BrainPOP an ideal use of your Pupil Premium allocation?

1) Because BrainPOP is easily accessible at home on many different devices and there’s ZERO extra licensing cost for doing so

Successful use of Pupil Premium funding, as recorded by OFSTED:

“The school was very aware that its pupils seldom had access to good quality information communication technology in their homes so could not practise the skills they learnt at school outside school hours or use computers for research. Equally, pupils often lacked the wider vocabulary and knowledge that they needed to reach the higher levels in their writing. The school used the laptops that they bought with some of the funding to enhance pupils’ research skills in different subjects, to be able to conjure up instantly an image with which pupils may not be familiar, such a desert, a lion, or a snowy landscape, and to give them independent access outside of school hours to enhance their homework.”

“The Pupil Premium: how schools are spending the funding successfully to maximise achievement” OFSTED Feb 2013

As well as being accessible from any browser that can display Flash, such as Sony Playstations, BrainPOP has an app for Apple and Android devices. From the cheapest smartphone to a top of the range iPad many homes who may not have access to a computer will have a mobile device ready to show BrainPOP (“the UK has the highest smartphone penetration of any market covered in the survey, at 61%”, says Techcrunch). We’re very BYOD friendly, and would complement any school that is investing in mobile tech.

Remember, our apps are free to download, and ALL site subscribers get automatic full access.

2) Because it’s wonderful at engaging parents too

“Good quality home learning contributes more to children’s intellectual and social development than parental occupation, education or income.”

The role of parents in a child’s learning, Department for Education

If Mum & Dad are involved in their children’s education the child does better at school. The role of the parent or guardian cannot be underestimated in seeking better pupil attainment and towards improving achievement.

But they need support and guidance. BrainPOP resources are cross curricular and cross phase. They are highly visual, fully subtitled and very engaging. If you identify specific needs in literacy or numeracy advise families to explore a BrainPOP topic together. That level of family support can have a big impact.

3) Because it’s mighty useful during transition and term breaks

Keep learning alive during school holidays with BrainPOP. It’s an educational resource that kids will WANT to use out of school. Take advantage of this by suggesting movies to watch that link into the following term’s work.

BrainPOP can be employed to help with Year 6 to 7 transition across the summer break, especially those about to enter Year 7 who did not achieve at least level 4 in KS2 in English and Maths. As BrainPOP is cross phase you might want to discuss licences across both your primary and secondary schools to ensure that consistency of resource.

4) Because it’s ready made to support SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar)

BrainPOP has a wealth of related resources that can be used to tackle SPaG concerns, or simply improve understanding.

• Knowledge About Language
• Reading & Writing

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Adding a shortcut to your computer desktop is a simple way to provide quick access to the BrainPOP UK website. It can be replicated onto every school computer too.

To help we’ve designed a colourful “Moby” desktop icon set that can be used on any Windows or Apple Mac machine.

Simply create the desktop shortcut, link it to www.brainpop.co.uk and then replace the icon image with one of our specially designed images.

READY? LET’S START

Step 1: Download the right icon file for your computer (download the .zip file to your computer and unzip to somewhere the icon file can be permanently stored)

• BrainPOP UK desktop icon WINDOWS
• BrainPOP UK desktop icon MAC

Step 2: Create the desktop shortcut

• To create short cut in Mac OS X visit this page: How to create weblink shortcut in Mac OS X by Apple support
• To create short cut in Windows visit this page: How to create a weblink shortcut on the desktop by Microsoft support

(Subscribers have the option of requesting an “automatic login link” that not only takes you to the BrainPOP UK website but automatically logs you in at the same time. If this is something you’d like please get in touch.)

Step 3: Change the shortcut picture

Windows:

This is pretty easy but there’s so many versions of Windows out there it means there’s probably subtle difference between each method. The following method works on Windows XP and is likely translatable to other versions of Windows:

1. Right click desktop icon > select “Properties”
2. On the “Web document” tab click “Change Icon” > click “Browse” > browse to wherever you stored the .ico file from Step 1 and select it.
3. Click OK, then OK.

Mac OSX:

1. Open the “Moby-desktop-icon-Mac.icns” file in the Preview application
2. Select ALL images (should be 6 in total) and COPY them.
3. Open the info page for the desktop shortcut by hitting COMMAND-I or right click (hold the control key while clicking) on the item to display the context menu and choose “Get Info”
4. PASTE over the little icon in the upper left corner by hitting COMMAND-v to paste the image
5. You should see the icon graphic change to the BrainPOP image

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Battleship Numberline by Numbaland from our GameUp UK section takes a simple concept like a numberline and gameifies it by adding in elements from, you guessed it… the game of Battleship.

This game encourages students to develop a strong and robust number sense and an understanding of how different numbers relate to one another.

How does Battleship Numberline work?

You start by choosing which maths concept you want to explore. There are 4 different sections to choose from. Each determines what the numberline uses as its measurement.

• Fractions
• Whole numbers
• Decimals
• Mixed bag (a combination of all of them).

What do you have to do?

There is a battleship hidden somewhere along the number line that they need to destroy, but they’re invisible – so how can you target them?

The game tells you where ships have been spotted expressed as a whole number, decimal, or fraction – depending on which option you choose. Then students have to carefully aim on the number line where they think that location is before the timer runs out.

The game gives constant feedback to the student. They will know immediately whether they are right or wrong; this prevents them making the same mistake repeatedly and learning an incorrect method which they then have to unlearn.

This game is very flexible and can be used front of classroom or individually, or as homework to reinforce maths concepts.

What makes it a good educational game?

• You can choose how to align the game to the level of your students by choosing between 5 levels: Very Easy; Easy; Medium; Hard; and Very Hard on each game section. This allows you to have more able students working on the harder levels while any struggling students can work on the lower levels to build their understanding and confidence.
• Students can compete against the game, themselves, and each other by collecting stars, increasing their average accuracy, and going up levels. Instead of kids being bored they’ll be clamouring to play and improve their scores.
• It’s a great way of dealing with common misconceptions that kids have about decimals and fractions – like that numbers with more decimal places must be “bigger” numbers.
• For any students getting frustrated they can watch the related BrainPOP movies under the game without having to navigate away from the game or losing their place.
• Like all the games, Battleship Numberline has a dedicated quiz that you can use to check students comprehension before or after the game.

Using the game with a class – hints and tips

• When I play this game with a class that haven’t seen it before, I like to start with the whole numbers section to get them comfortable with the game mechanic. Then, when I’m sure they understand I propose making it a little harder – which usually gets some excitement!
• I particularly like using this game on an interactive whiteboard; I split the class into two teams and pick 2 or 3 students from each team to come to the front and take turns solving the levels. After a couple of rounds I will send students back to their seats and pick others from their team to take their place at the front to ensure everybody gets a turn.
• Often a class will have a student keen to takeover or answer all the questions. If I am sure they understand the concept and they’ve had a go I make them the “official scorekeeper” and put them in charge of keeping  track of how many stars each team has won. It keeps them engaged and busy while giving other students a chance to take part without the enthusiastic student feeling ignored or passed over.

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• Going bananas with Makey Makey and GameUp UK
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