Animated Movies are Central to BrainPOP App

One of the best ways to engage students in learning is to include multimedia in lesson plans. Audio, video and interactivity in lessons tend to keep students interested and help them retain the material better.

That’s the idea behind the popular BrainPOP collection of educational websites, programs and animated movies. Since 1999, BrainPOP curriculum-based content on the company’s website has been used by thousands of students and teachers at K-12 schools across the nation.

With the increased popularity of tablets and smartphones, BrainPOP has added several mobile apps to its lineup. One of the most engaging is the “BrainPOP Featured Movie” app, which is aimed at students in grades 3-8.

Animated movies and quizzes

The “BrainPOP Featured Movie” app is free. Central to the app is a daily animated movie that focuses on current events, historical milestones, cultural leaders and holidays. Three more movies on various subjects are also included. Each movie is four to five minutes long.

Most movies are hosted by a teenager named Tim and his sidekick, a robot called Moby. Together, they explore real-life topics that tie into educational subjects. Examples include a look at how banks compound interest and how readers can identify the main idea in an English essay.

Other topics include online safety tips for kids, overviews of the International Space Station and the U.S. Armed Forces, and a profile of Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma. After each movie students can test what they’ve learned by taking an interactive multiple-choice quiz.

Curriculum-based topics

All educational core subjects are included in the app and content is updated regularly by a team of educators, writers and animators at BrainPOP.

Topics include:

• Science
• Social studies
• English
• Math
• Arts and music
• Health
• Engineering and technology

Movies are closed-captioned so it’s easy for hearing-impaired students to follow the subject and take the learning quiz. Students can watch each movie as many times as they like and retake the quiz to boost their score.

Optional in-app subscriptions

In addition to the basic “BrainPOP Featured Movie” app, two premium versions offer extra content and interactive options. Both are fee-based and require a subscription. They can be purchased through links included in the basic app. They include:

• Explorer. In addition to the daily featured movie, students can watch four additional movies that expand on content covered in the featured movie. Interactive quiz results are saved and displayed by highest, lowest and average scores. The cost is $1.99 per month.
• Full Access. This version includes the daily featured movie and quiz, but also offers unlimited access to the BrainPOP archive of more than 750 movies and quizzes, along with educational games and activity pages. The cost is $6.99 per month.

Other BrainPOP websites and apps available include BrainPOP Jr. for K-3 students, BrainPOP ESL and BrainPOP Español. Visit the site.

Download details

The basic “BrainPOP Featured Movie” app is free and can be downloaded through Google Play, Amazon Appstore and iTunes. The app is compatible with smartphones and tablets running the Android operating system 2.2 or later. Apple users can play the app on iPhones and iPad tablets running iOS version 5.0 or later.