Initiatives+to+Address+Needs


 * III. Initiatives to Address Needs: **

BrainPOP is a software program that creates animated, curriculum-based content that engages students, supports educators, and bolsters achievement. BrainPOP was founded by Dr. Avraham Kadar who needed help explaining difficult concepts to his young patients. BrainPOP has a wide variety of versions which include, BrainPOP Jr. which is for grades (K-3), BrainPOP (3-12), BrainPOP Educators, BrainPOP Espanol, and BrainPOP ESL. Within each of these different versions of BrainPOP you will find many different resources such as, movies, quizzes, experiments, timelines, and activity pages. BrainPOP resources can be used in many different ways. They can be used as a whole group or an individual activity. They can be used as a way to introduce lessons or topics, to reinforce difficult concepts, summarize concepts that have recently been taught, and review for quizzes and tests. BrainPOP is currently being used in 25% of classrooms in the United States as well as classrooms in Mexico, the U.K., Israel, and several other countries. (Wikipedia) “As of 2010, BrainPOP hosted more than 6 million unique visits each month, from thousands of schools and individuals worldwide.” (Wikipedia) “Grade 3, 5 and 8th grade students in classes using BrainPOP, an animated web-based product, showed greater gains in language, reading and science skills than a comparable group of students in classes that did not have access to BrainPOP.” (24-7 PressRelease.com)
 * __ What is BrainPOP? __**

“ Middle School students interact well with cartoons and games. BrainPOP! brings this fun to the classroom in a multifaceted website with cartoon instructional videos and subject-specific classroom materials.” (Bartlett, E.) ** BrainPOP has so much to offer students. BrainPOP offers students new and creative ways to learn the “same old” concepts. Through interactive activities, short video clips, interactive word walls, timelines, graphic organizers, auditory and visual examples of vocabulary, games, and additional topics for reading, BrainPOP connects their many concepts to the real world. BrainPOP also suggests additional reading for students that relate to particular concepts or topics. Another feature BrainPOP has to offer is their quizzes. Students can complete a multiple choice quiz prior to or after a lesson. The quizzes can be used as a preview, a review, or a graded assignment for a particular concept. With all that BrainPOP has to offer students, they become actively engaged in the lessons, excited about their learning, and they begin to feel a responsibility for their own learning. **
 * __ What does BrainPOP offer to students? __**

BrainPOP has so much to offer teachers. With their new BrainPOP Educator they have opened up the doors for many teachers. Teachers can use BrainPOP Educator to find detailed lesson plans which include all aspects such as objectives, standards, materials, procedure, and vocabulary. When preparing lessons teachers also have access to different tools such as activity pages and graphic organizers which can help enhance lessons. Along with lesson plans, teachers have access to video tutorials which share ideas of ways to use BrainPOP in the classroom. Teachers are able to search for lessons using the State Standards Search Tool. This tool allows you to select lessons that directly correlate with your state standards. BrainPOP Educators also provides a curriculum calendar which highlights videos as well as professional development opportunities for teachers. The professional development opportunities that BrainPOP offers range from conferences to webinars and workshops as well as many informational guides that can be used to lead your very own sessions of professional development for BrainPOP. There are also three teacher communities available for educators where they can share their ideas and/or lessons with other teachers all over the world.
 * __ What does BrainPOP offer to teachers? __**


 * __ What does BrainPOP offer to parents? __**
 * Not only does BrainPOP offer resources for students and teachers, it also provides resources for parents. Parents can access BrainPOP several ways, a free trial, subscribe for a family access account, or if your school or district opts to subscribe to home access which will provide their parents with access. With access to BrainPOP parents have an open door to many resources that can be used for reviewing or reinforcing concepts that are currently being taught in their child’s class. This is a way for parents to be more involved in their child’s learning. **


 * __ BrainPOP Pros: __**
 * In addition to all that BrainPOP has to offer to students, teachers, and parents, there are still many other positive features of BrainPOP. BrainPOP is an animated program which has hundreds of movies for students in grades K-12 in all content areas including Math, Health, Technology, Science, Social Studies, Arts, Music, and English. Every lesson aligns with state standards and can be searched by the standards that they meet. All of the videos and interactive activities help to increase student engagement and enjoyment by putting them in control of their learning. Another great feature of BrainPOP is that it does provide access for students who speak different languages. Currently they are able to accommodate for students who speak Spanish, French and English, as well as English relating to topics connected to the UK. Since BrainPOP is a website there is no downloading required, nor any special software is required to access its features. BrainPOP is compatible for all types of computers and can be displayed using LCD projectors and interactive whiteboards. **

Just like all other things, there are some cons to using BrainPOP. The biggest downfall to BrainPOP is the fact that it is not free. It does require that you sign up for a minimum of 12 months for all subscriptions. The subscriptions themselves can seem a bit costly if you are not aware of all that BrainPOP has to offer. Another area of concern for some educators is that BrainPOP is all cartoon animated, so for some it may seem to be a little childish for particular grade levels. Although the concepts do range from K-12, many times teachers may think that the higher the grade level the less likely the students will be intrigued by the interactive activities and video clips.
 * __ BrainPOP Cons: __**

__Links: __ ﻿Technology Initiative Table of Contents Next Page (Addressing Standards)
 * __ BrainPOP Awards Received: __**
 * Here you will find a list of awards that BrainPOP has received over the past several years: **
 * // Learning Magazine // 2010 Teacher’s Choice Award
 * // Tech & Learning Magazine // Award of Excellence (2009 and 2007)
 * Homeschool.com Top 100 Educational Web Sites (2009, 2008, and 2005)
 * Apple Education: Recommended Curriculum Collections
 * Interactive Media Awards: Best in Class (2009 and 2007) and Outstanding Achievement (2008)
 * Association for Library Service to Children: Great Web Sites for Kids (2006)
 * Association of Educational Publishers: Distinguished Achievement Award (2005)
 * Media & Methods: Awards Portfolio Winner (2005)
 * // Forbes Magazine: // Best of the Web (2004, 2002, and 2001)