TOO COOL (PERFECT FOR SCHOOL): We've got our favorite edtech teacher and administrator tools for the week right here, as highlighted in our Instruct newsletter. By the way—got a favorite S’Cool Tool you like to use? We would love to hear and share your recommendations! If you’ve got a tool that makes you or your students sing from the proverbial mountaintops, fill out this form to let us know. It might just get featured! Note: We append privacy flags to tools that collect personal information. If a tool collects personal information from students, parents or educators should create an account for users under 13.
Freemium—CueThink—A collaborative math tool in which students create short videos recordings of themselves solving problems for later review. CueThink aims to improve students’ “math communication.” Teachers and peers then use the videos to work through the problem again and annotate the work. CueThink also stores these videos in a portfolio so as to showcase students’ growth. NewSchools Venture Fund’s praise: “The power of student collaboration takes center stage in CueThink’s student-to-student interactive math tool creating a peer-led approach to engaging in mathematics.” Privacy flag: CueThink collects personally identifiable information from registered users.
$25—Make Music Count—Students learn to play a song by solving algebraic equations, deriving the musical notes from the answers. The math in each workbook is aligned to Common Core standards. To get a sense of the tool, watch this video of students learning by playing Rae Sremmurd’s hit “Throw Sum Mo.” NewSchools Venture Fund’s praise: “Early-stage organizations like Make Music Count… were founded by entrepreneurs whose products have shown unique engagement through tying math to cultural relevance—music and basketball, respectively.”
Freemium—Zearn—A digital math teaching tool for grades K-5. It works on both tablets and computers to teach students basic numeracy through digital lessons and small group sessions. Students practice individually on a device, and then work together using Zearn curriculum in small groups with a teacher. Teachers can also participate in Zearn professional development to learn how to better integrate the tool into their classes. NewSchools Venture Fund’s praise: “We value the importance of building foundational skills for the multitude of students who arrive in middle and high school classrooms with underdeveloped math skills.” Privacy flag: Zearn collects personal information from registered users.
