Force & Motion Apps

Roller Coaster Builder

This free app serves as a great review of the basic concepts of force and motion.Students must have a knowledge of these concepts to solve the problem presented of getting your rollercoaster from one side to the other. Optimized for iPhone & iTouch, but will work on iPad as well. View in Itunes Store

6th Grade TEKS 6.8A,B,C,D,E
7th Grade TEKS 7.7A
8th Grade TEKS 8.6A, B,C



Touch Physics

This is a highly awarded app that teaches students about the basic laws of motion. A new iPad version was released in August 2010 and features real physics modeling. iPod Touch and iPhone versions are also available. Have your students draw shapes with a crayon that come to life. These shapes interact with the wheel according to physical laws. An extension idea is to have your students design their own level and to illustrate how they would go about solving it by using various types of simple machines such as levers, inclined planes, etc.

6th Grade TEKS 6.8A,B,C,D,E
7th Grade TEKS 7.7A
8th Grade TEKS 8.6A, B,C

Earth & Space

Google Earth & Google Sky

This is a free app available for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Explore
the worldʼs oceans, biomes, track migration of whales, or examine the
features of the ocean floor. Google Earth layers allows students to use
images and links to study volcanoes or tectonics movement of
earthquakes. Version 4.2 now recognizes the Google Sky plug-in that will
allow you to teach your students about astronomy while using real images
from the Hubble Telescope. Layers include Planets, Galaxies, Stars and
Stargazing.
6th Grade TEKS 6.10A,C,D, 6.11A,B
7th Grade TEKS 7.8A,B,C, 7.9A,B
8th Grade TEKS 8.7A,B,C, 8.8A, 8.9B, 8.9C, 8.10C


Nasa HD

This is a free app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Students can instantly gather information, photos and video feed from the latest Nasa missions and the astronomy picture of the day. Have students visit the stars or visit the moon.

6th Grade TEKS 6.11A, B, C
7th Grade TEKS 7.9A, B
8th Grade TEKS 8.7A,B,C, 8.8A,B,C.D,E, 8.10A

Planets

I believe Planets is one of the best apps available for educators and its free! Students can view the solar systems and constellations in 2D or 3D and quickly find information on the planets and moons. Available in iPad, iPhone & iTouch versions.

6th Grade TEKS 6.11A, B, C
7th Grade TEKS 7.9A, B
8th Grade TEKS 8.7A,B,C, 8.8A,B,C.D,E, 8.10A