Back-to-school season is a great time to ensure you have an arsenal of tools going into the next school year. Staying organized and having all the necessary materials are key. Technology is also a big part of today’s educational environment, including essential mobile apps to help students solve problems, remember formulas, aid studying, and more. Check out these must-haves for any student’s smart phone or tablet:
Young Students
All these apps are designed for young students. Even if the student is too young to own a device of their own, doesn’t mean you and your child can’t enjoy these educational apps together. You’ll find apps that time reading, practice counting and adding coins, and have stories that read aloud.
Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster and the rest of your favorite characters are featured in a variety of apps that are both fun and educational!
Great apps for readers who are learning ABCs and 123s. These colorful apps are educational and will keep your young student engaged.
Older Students
“Life is a Mathway! I want to learn math all night long!” I sincerely apologize to all Tom Cochrane fans. This is a great tool for understanding the knowledge path when solving answers. Type in any problem, then follow the steps to reach the solution. Another great function of this tool is the ability to sign in across different platforms to keep track of solutions.
Update: A reader pointed out that you can plug in an equation and receive a solution, but if you would like the knowledge path, the tool does require a subscription.
A free app that allows you to interact with the Periodic Table. Learn about an element’s atomic number, symbol and mass. Also available online through our Activity Center.
Wolfram is expanding its services into many areas, but is already famous for its simple question and answers. Simply type in a question, formula, or explanation and the program will return any information it has on your entry. Inputting a person’s name the program will showcase their achievements, their biography and their timeline. For math problems it will return the answer as well as the steps it took to getting the answer. Search terms related to science, historic events, and even music to see how deep this program can go.
Trying to remember the definition or break down of each formula can be difficult: Cosine, GCF, Pythagorean Theorem, multiplicative inverse. Yikes! Use this app as a quick reference guide whenever you have difficulty remembering the proper time to use a formula.
These Apps focus on Math, History Science, and English, as well as general knowledge. There are also free (lite) apps available as well as more in depth apps for students who are prepping for the AP exam.
Any Age
This app is much more than a quick reference for checking the spelling of a word. Use their widget and set it on a home screen to improve your vocabulary with their word of the day.
I would have loved this app while I was in school. I also would have loved to have a mobile phone that had more than 12 buttons. There are many flash card apps available; the one thing that makes Cram special is the integration with their website and app. Creating the flash cards on a PC or Mac is very easy, and then all you need to do is log on to your mobile device to review. You can also browse by subject to see pre-made flash cards.
For the students (or adults) who have difficulty getting out of bed, this app will wake up your brain and your body will follow. It has several options for difficulty of questions and how many questions you want to be asked before you can turn off the alarm.
The people powered encyclopedia. Explore Wikipedia’s vast articles and delve deep into any topic. With most entries to Wikipedia, they can be freely edited and updated so you may not want to use Wikipedia as a source, however most articles have annotations with links to primary sources which can prove to be great resources.
There are a plethora of apps available, but these are a great start to ensure you are prepared for the upcoming school year. That’s my phone in the featured image, by the way, these apps are awesome, and I feel smarter already. I’m not even a student anymore. Be sure to tell us your favorite apps in the comments.
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