BrainPOP Movies Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg

In my position, I have the pleasure of interacting with educators on a daily basis. I get to speak, meet and interact with District Leaders, School Site Leaders and Teachers. When meeting, I will often ask, "How familiar are you with BrainPOP?"

Most educators, because of BrainPOP's presence is in over two-thirds of U.S. districts & an estimated reach of 25 million(!) students annually, have heard and likely even used BrainPOP at some point in their careers.

Usually, I will get something to the effect, "I'm very familiar with BrainPOP. I used it when I was a teacher," or, "My students and I love the movies that are available on so many of the topics that I teach."

But Wait; There's More!

Yes, BrainPOP, as most educators know, is famous for its animated movies that engage all learners & build background knowledge and literacy skills for every student. While these movies are at the heart of what makes BrainPOP such a beloved resource for both teachers and students, I have found that many educators do not know the deeper learning opportunities that BrainPOP offers or the learning science that is behind so many of these learning activities.

Apply and Assess

BrainPOP has a a number of activities that allow students to apply their knowledge through auto-graded quizzes and Challenge activities as teachers assess grade-level concepts, common misconceptions, and essential literacy skills. What's so impactful about this actionable data is that teachers can utilize this real-time data to inform future instructional decisions and provide students exactly what they need.

The following video: Actionable Data with BrainPOP, demonstrates how these apply and assess activities provide teachers with student’s real-time progress and performance; ensuring that each lesson is thoughtfully designed to meet students exactly where they are in their learning journey.

Deepen & Extend

Going back to that question that I often ask educators about what they know about BrainPOP, this is an area of particular interest of mine as someone who has evaluated technology and resources for my school for many years. One of the most important aspects of technology integration for me, as a prior principal, is what do students DO to reinforce their learning. Simple engagement is never enough. If students are truly going to learn at a deeper level, and in a way that they remember, they have to act on the knowledge that they are learning and apply it in interactive learning activities. The following are some of the creative tools that BrainPOP has to get students to actively DO the working and thinking required for deeper learning:

• Creative Coding - Developed in partnership with Scratch and Vidcode, provides students with block and text-based coding projects spanning the K-12 curriculum.
• Make-a-Movie - With Make-a-Movie, students make their own movies. Students can record narration, manipulate backgrounds, and add transitions between scenes.  Make-a-Movie cultivates planning, organizing, writing, collaborating, and analyzing skills.
•  Make-a-Map - Make-a-Map invites students to make meaningful connections between concepts and reinforce knowledge using BrainPOP images, keywords, and movie clips.

Each of these activities help students build connections between concepts and content knowledge, providing them with new and creative ways to show what they know and apply transferable essential literacy skills.

Just the Tip of the Iceberg...There's More, Much More!

• BrainPOP's GameUP, which is great at curating games from a variety of respected partners (e.g. Phet, Smithsonian Center, Space Science Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Field Day Lab, iCivics, MIT Education Arcade, name a few) help teach students subject matter in fun and engaging ways. There are many games that are organized by subject so it is easy to find the right game for the right subject and the appropriate grade level.
• BrainPOP ELL, in our diverse and interconnected world, almost every classroom has second language learners. BrainPOP makes supporting these emerging bilingual students more targeted and precise with 90 scaffolded lessons to build vocabulary and grammar.
• BrainPOP Science - Our award winning BrainPOP Science; created specifically for 6-8 middle school science classes, brings multi-dimensional science to life & helps middle schoolers see themselves as scientists and engineers as they are guided through immersive investigations.

BrainPOP helps Empower Kids to Shape the World Around Them and Within Them

In a time where it is imperative that we accelerate the learning for all students, that we provide equity and access for all students, and that we engage all students by building upon their strengths and interests, BrainPOP has the potential to transform learning for so many students.

As Teachers, Administrators and Educators, let's help bring immersive learning opportunities to students to take their learning deeper; and, as BrainPOP's mission states; "Empower Kids to Shape the World Around Them & Within Them."

*The views and opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities within BrainPOP.