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The Website of Crystal Perham |
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Website Evaluation Form BrainPopjr www.brainpopjr.com
212.689.9923 Intended for Grades K-2 All Subjects Reviewed by: Crystal Perham SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION: BrainPopjr provides an animated,
curriculum-based approach to teaching and learning. The website encourages
exploration and inquiry in six content areas: reading, writing, math,
science, social studies, and health. Once you chose a content area, you are
provided with several resources. These resources include: movies, quizzes,
experiments, timelines, and activity pages. The website immediately hooks
students into learning through the use of catchy music, and animated cartoon
characters (Moby and Tom). BrainPopjr
encourages a home to school connection by providing several extension
activities for both teachers and parents. BrainPopjr is very interactive and
colorful. BrainPopjr is extremely valuable to students. It teaches or
reinforces information in a way that is fun and exciting. For example, if
students are learning about plants, they get to see a plant broken down into
parts and described by Moby and Tom. ACCURACY OF CONTENT: The website provides developmentally
appropriate content across all subject areas. The content is easy to
understand and it appeals to student interests. BrainPopjr covers a variety
of content ranging from bar graphs to long vowels. Its content is student
friendly and easy to read. BrainPopjr is free of bias and stereotyping. Some
of the movies presented on this site include animated characters from various
backgrounds. TECHNICAL QUALITY: BrainPopjr is easy to access from any home or school computer. It
can be viewed with projectors and displayed on interactive whiteboards. All
information is available online at the click of a button. All you need to do
is choose a content area, click, and several resources will be at your
fingertips within seconds. BrainPopjr is easy to use and navigate through for
both teachers and students. Students have the option to click on a content
area to obtain resources. Or they can simply type in a keyword (s) into the
search box located in the top right hand corner of the screen and find the
resources that they need. Teachers can also find information by using the
State Standards Tool. This tool allows teachers to search by State, Subject,
or Grade Level. BrainPopjr is fully
compatible with all computer types and does not require any downloading,
installation, or special hardware. BrainPopjr has to be purchased to use,
even though people can experience it through a trial version at first. USE OF TECHNOLOGY: BrainPopjr makes great use of technology to promote student
learning because they present information uniquely made for 21-century
learning. Students enjoy watching movies and television. BrainPopjr
recognized this fact, and decided to incorporate it into one of the ways to
present information. Students can be provided with feedback on their quizzes.
Once students select an answer to a quiz question online, Moby will tell them
whether their answer is correct or incorrect.
ROLE OF STUDENTS: BrainPopjr can be used independently, in small groups, or whole class
settings. Students can engage in several interactive features while visiting
this site. Students can write, draw, and discuss the content presented on
BrainPopjr. Students can also play interactive games and complete activity
sheets while on this site. Students watch movies and can take online or paper
quizzes. BrainPopjr allows students to work according to their learning needs
when taking the quizzes because they can to chose to take an easy or hard
quiz. Students can write notes to the animated characters. ROLE OF TEACHER: Teachers should model using the Smartboard how to access the
site. Teachers should guide students throughout the site, explaining to them
the different features and how to use them. Since the main feature of
BrainPopjr is the video component, the role of the teacher can be limited.
However, teachers can use the information presented on BrainPopjr to create
class discussions, quiz or test questions, or to enhance student skills such
as note taking. Teachers can use the information given on the site to create
various activities and learning experiences. Teachers can use BrainPopjr as a
formative assessment. Teachers can print quizzes from the site to measure
student’s comprehension. CLASSROOM USAGE: BrainPopjr can be used throughout the
classroom. Brainpopjr can be used to introduce a unit or study, reinforce, or
review information. Teachers can project the website on the Smartboard for
students to use as part of whole group instruction. Students should have access to BrainPopjr
during all content areas. Students should be able to access BrainPopjr when
they have free time and use it independently. Students should also be allowed
to use BrainPopjr during computer center and during indoor recess. CRITICAL SUMMARY: BrainPopjr is an excellent website to use. It allows for
differentiated learning through its diverse content. It provides information
through movies for all visual learners. It also orally discusses content for
verbal learners. BrainPopjr also provides parents and teachers with hands on
activities for all kinesthetic learners. BrainPopjr appeals to ELL students
through the use of bright relevant pictures that connect to the content being
presented. Although BrainPopjr has many benefits, it also has a few
shortcomings. BrainPopjr focuses a lot on the use of movies to convey
information. Although this can be eye catching at first, students may get
bored of hearing the same music, and seeing the same animated characters. The
quizzes on BrainPopjr are given in multiple-choice form, which does not cater
to every students needs. OVERALL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10) I
give BrainPopjr an 8 out of 10. EXPLANATION OF RATING: I gave an overall rating
of an 8 because of its kid friendly approach to teaching. Brainpopjr covers
material found in most curriculums and is aligned with state standards. I
feel that BrainPopjr does a great job of capturing student interest and
keeping it. I use BrainPopjr in my classroom across all content areas. I have
found the information to be accurate and beneficial to my students. However,
there have been occasions when I needed information on a subject and could
not find it. |
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Home Page | Review
of BrainPopjr | Lesson Plan for
BrainPopjr| PowerPoint of CharlotteWeb|
Web Quest for Butterfly |
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@Crystal Perham| Last Revised 6/16/09 | email: cperham@sjc.edu |
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