Did you have a flashback to the good old days? I for sure did. I remember using Brain Pop all the way back in elementary school. You truly have to have been in the North Pole to not know what Brain Pop is. I feel like almost every teacher I had one year would use Brain Pop for anything and everything.
Brain Pop is an educational website that offers resources for different content areas in an animated, engaging format. Subjects include: Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts & Music, Health, and Engineering & Technology. Many different characters are introduced to us to present and take us through a mini-lesson video. For example, if you went under science, you can find videos and other resources about energy and other topics.
Since Brain Pop has first come out, the program has expanded. Brain Pop has been converted to an app. Making it, even more accessible than it was before. Brain Pop now has other apps, beside the main one about movies. If you would like to look at their other apps and more information about them, you can go to this link to find out more.
How Do I Sign-Up and Use Brain Pop?
When you click the log in button, you will begin to put in your information. You can do this through normal sign-ups or by signing into your Clever or G Suite for Education. My suggestion, like always, is to use your Google account to keep your password and log in information the same for all of your education accounts. A G Suite for Education, in this case, is more than just your Google account, so you may not be able use that for log in.
From here, I do not have any information to go further. Brain Pop, if you want more resources and access, requires you to buy a subscription. But, maybe, your school already has one and they will be able to give you a discount or code to be linked to their account.
Brain Pop does offer free mini-lessons and features though. This is a nice option if you want to do a sample run in your classroom with this program. That way, you can get opinions and feedback from your students, before making the commitment to paying for it.
Just from doing some exploring and looking into Brain Pop, I can tell you a few features that you will be able to use, once you have an account. Brain Pop allows for games to be played on content areas. You, the teacher, can assign quizzes to your students through the program. Students, in general, have access to quizzes to test their knowledge. Brain Pop also has games to play with certain topics. This is a fun and interactive way for students to learn about a difficult topic because it doesn't feel like work, but they do have to work and think in order to play.
There are some other features that Brain Pop offers. Brain Pop offers website and resources for English Language Learners (ELL). They also have the website translated in Spanish and French. Brain Pop also offers specifically a website for educators. This page lets you walk through all the steps to sign up for an educator subscription. It also does go into further detail what this type of subscription would mean. It also gives a lot of great information in general.
If you would like more information on how to set up an account, for educators, this website goes through it step by step. They also give you detailed ideas and information tips to know about using Brain Pop. She is someone who has an account, so she will be able to give you more knowledge than I have experience with, at the moment.
How Do I Incorporate Brain Pop in My Classroom?
The Brain Pop mini-lesson and videos can be used in my lesson plans. Using the videos is a good way for me to differentiate the way in which I present topics. It spices things up from me just doing a powerpoint or standing there lecturing them (which, I have no intent on doing anyways!). This helps students who respond better to visual aids, rather than just auditory approaches. It also helps those who may be ELL, I can put on captions for them. This would let them associate the English speech, with their written language. It also gives them another way to learn, from just the visuals being projected. they can rely on context clues, instead of just words.
Another way to incorporate Brain Pop into the classroom, is through stations. Assuming that I have an iPad or two or even a few desktops, I can set up a station where my students interact with Brain Pop. It could be that they view a mini-lesson. They could play a game to further their knowledge in a certain topic. They could be working on quizzes for topics that I assigned them. They could also be working in pairs to complete and assignment or task.
If you want more ideas, you can go to this link and it gives you several ideas. These ideas all revolve around Brain Pop being used in the classroom. Some examples are, pause points, "come on down!", or pair share. The possibilities are endless. Another way to think of or find ideas is to just look on Google or even talk with your fellow teachers to see if they use the program. They may be able to share with you some ideas that you haven't thought of before.
My Experiences and Opinion
I mentioned in the beginning that I interacted with Brain Pop quite a bit in elementary school. I always enjoyed using this website to look further into topics. I personally, respond very well to visual resources and tool when it comes to learning and retaining information. So, for me, the videos and online games were very helpful for me, if I needed more help on a certain topic.
I think Brain Pop has done a great job at expanding and broadening their resources and programs. They now have apps where kids can view at home, videos and movies. This creates a sense of intrinsic motivation because students are wanting to learn for themselves. They also get this sense of relationship with the characters, like Moby. Everyone knows Moby and they enjoy seeing him.
Brain Pop is a great tool to use for differentiation, IEPs, 504s, and universal design learning. This program offers an online, visual, auditory, and interactive way to learn. Not all students will love it, but some students may need the resources that Brain Pop offers. The fact that this website is easily accessible to ELL, Spanish, and French students is so incredibly helpful. It makes learning more accessible to them and easier for them to understand. It also means that people all over the world can be using this program.
References
Wikipedia. (2018, Dec. 4). Brain Pop Logo [online photo]. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrainPop.
Christie. (2013, Feb. 20). Brain Pop Main Page [online photo]. Retrieved from https://consortiumlibrary.org/blogs/eresources/2013/02/20/brainpop/.
Millstone, Jessica. (2016, Oct. 27). Brain Pop Usage Cycle [online photo]. Retrieved from https://educators.brainpop.com/2016/10/27/using-brainpop-outside-classroom-linking-parents-students-teachers-together/.
Maria. (2018-accessed). 6 Ways to Use BrainPop in Your Classroom [online link]. Retrieved from http://www.everyonedeservestolearn.com/2014/12/6-ways-to-use-brainpop-in-your-classroom.html.
BrainPop Educators. (2018-accessed). Classroom Ideas for BrainPOP [online link]. Retrieved from https://educators.brainpop.com/creative-teaching-with-brainpop/ideas-for-integration/.
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