How to Find Educational Apps


educational app graphic

Making the Most of the App Store
Your first thought might be to search in Apple’s App Store. However, with over 80,000 educational apps available, finding the right apps is a challenge. Apple offers several collections of apps organized around a similar purpose, including an Education Collection. The Education Collection has 25 topics to choose from. Titles include real-world learning, homework projects, virtual field trips, explore the world, create and play, special education and many more. Apple has another collection with recommendations for four different grade levels: preschool and kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school. Choosing one of these school sets leads you to subject area groupings for those grades. Apple also has the special grouping called Just for Kids. This category features apps curated by Apple’s editorial staff that should appeal to children from toddlers to age eleven. You can search by three different age ranges: 5 and under, ages 6 – 8 and ages 9 – 11.

Catalogs and Curated Collections
Educators have also built app catalogs and references. For example, a small group of my fellow Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs) created the informative website called APPitic. This comprehensive directory of apps for education addresses a variety of grade levels, instructional strategies and classroom settings. More than 6,000 apps are organized in over 300 different subcategories. Here’s a tip: to find apps cataloged by subject area look under Themes and then select Apps by Subject Area from the drop-down menu.

 

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About Andy Brovey

Dr. Andy Brovey, The Portable Prof, teaches about digital tools through his work, websites and social media. In 2007, Apple Inc. recognized his work and named him an Apple Distinguished Educator. He started this iPad Academy website shortly after the first iPad went on sale. On his Freelance Teaching site you'll find the resources you need to teach like a smart entrepreneur.