BrainPOP is an educational application with over a thousand short animated movies for K-12 students, together with quizzes and learning activities, covering the following subject areas: Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Engineering and Technology, Health, and Arts and Music.
During our time in remote learning, I’ve been using BrainPOP Jr. instructional videos in Language Arts and Math to help support the learning process. I’ve received a fair amount of positive feedback related to this application from parents and students. In my experience, BrainPOP instructional videos present Information in a clear and concise manner. I think that it helps that the videos are animated because they engage students through narrative, humor, and characters. Below is an instructional video that I recently used in teaching the numeracy concept, perimeter. What I admire about it is that it takes a numeracy concept and shows how it relates to the real world creating a more meaningful learning experience for students.
BrainPOP has some essential components that have led to its success:
- Playful: It consists of engaging learning games, animated movies, and activities. It’s designed with humour to encourage kids on their unique learning paths.
- Educator-Focused: It supports teachers’ roles and needs with classroom-optimized tools, shaped by use by students and teachers in diverse learning settings.
- Reflective: Learning is made visible through tools that challenge students to reflect, make connections, and engage in deeper, curiosity-driven learning.
- Global: It covers universal topics, with localization for major world languages like Spanish, French, and Mandarin. It is available to be downloaded on mobile devices making it easily accessible.
There are three different BrainPOP resources offered:
- BrainPOP Jr. (K-3)
- BrainPOP
- BrainPOP ELL (for English Language Learners)
I’d say that one of the pitfalls of this application is its cost. Many schools may not have funds available to make the purchase of a school subscription. I found out about it through the school where I work. I was able to locate a page on the site that offers resources to help seek funding. Due to the pandemic, the site is currently providing free access.
Check out the site by clicking the link below:
