| Type | Curriculum based websites |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Avraham Kadar, M.D. |
| Products | Brainpop.com, BrainPOP Jr., BrainPOP ESL, BrainPOP Educators |
BrainPOP is a group of educational websites with hundreds of short animated movies for students in grades K-12 (ages 6 to 17) covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, mathematics, arts and music, health and technology. BrainPOP is used in more than 25% of U.S. schools and also offers subscriptions for families and homeschoolers.[1] It is also used in schools in Mexico, the UK, Israel, France, Spain and several other countries.
Most of the videos feature the recurring characters Tim and Moby.[2] In addition to BrainPOP.com for older children, there is BrainPOP Jr. for younger children (grades K-3), BrainPOP Español, BrainPOP Francais, BrainPOP UK, BrainPOP ESL for non-native speakers learning English, and BrainPOP Educators, a free site for teachers. The sites are owned by FWD Media, Inc. and its affiliates, based in New York.
Contents |
Founded in 1999, the BrainPOP websites display animated, curriculum-based content that supports educators and are intended to be fun for students to watch.[3][4] The sites' movies cover the subjects of mathematics, engineering and technology, health, science, social studies, arts and music, and English. Since 2007, the movies have been closed captioned. BrainPOP is used in more than 25% of U.S. schools.[1] The company was founded by Avraham Kadar, M.D., an immunologist and pediatrician, to explain medical concepts to his young patients using animation.[5] As of 2011, BrainPOP hosted more than 11 million unique visits each month, from thousands of schools and individuals worldwide.[6] BrainPOP uses an in-house team of educators, animators, and writers to produce and continually update the sites, incorporating teacher and parent input.[7][5]
The online resources include BrainPOP.com, for grades 3 and up (over age 9) and BrainPOP Jr., for grades K-3 (ages 5 to 9). The sites also offer movies in three different languages for regional markets: BrainPOP Español for Spanish-speakers, BrainPOP Francais (French) and BrainPOP UK (English with UK-centered topics).[8] The site's free resource for teachers and home schoolers, BrainPOP Educators, features free tips, tools and best practices by and for teachers and homeschoolers.[9] In 2009, BrainPOP launched BrainPOP ESL, targeted at students learning English as a second language. Schools and parents can use the site to help shape the student's curriculum.[10][5]
BrainPOP movies may be used to introduce a new lesson or topic, for illustrating complex subject matter or to review before a test. Content is aligned to USA state education standards and is searchable.[7] In addition to movies, the site displays quizzes, games, experiments and other related content that students can use interactively to reinforce the lessons in the movies.[11][12] BrainPOP products are compatible with PCs, Macs, projectors and interactive whiteboards. No downloading, installation or special hardware is required. There are also applications for the iPad and smartphones.[13][14] The movies feature recurring characters such as Tim, Moby and Annie.[5] Most of the movies begin with the characters responding to correspondence and end humorously, often with Tim getting annoyed at Moby or vice versa. Students "enjoy the pair's antics".[15]
The sites have won numerous awards, including Learning Magazine 2011 (BrainPOP) and 2010 (BrainPOP Jr.) Teacher's Choice Awards; Tech & Learning Magazine Award of Excellence, 2009 and 2007; 2010 Association of Educational Publishers' Distinguished Achievement Award (BrainPOP ESL); Homeschool.com Top 100 Educational Web Sites 2009, 2008 and 2005; Apple Education: Recommended Curriculum Collections; Interactive Media Awards: Best in Class, 2010, 2009 and 2007 and Outstanding Achievement, 2008; Association for Library Service to Children: Great Web Sites for Kids, 2006; Association of Educational Publishers: Distinguished Achievement Award, 2005; Media & Methods: Awards Portfolio Winner, 2005; Forbes Magazine: Best of the Web, 2004, 2002 and 2001.[16] Reviews for the websites and movies have been favorable. A review in The Reading Matrix stated:
A 2009 multi-grade study by SEG research, entitled "A Study of the Effectiveness of BrainPOP", involved over 1,000 students in schools in Palm Beach County, Florida and New York City. The BrainPOP-financed study concluded, "Students in classes using BrainPOP made significant improvements compared to students in classes not using BrainPOP."[18] Praising a BrainPOP video about Ada Lovelace, Wired magazine wrote, "After reading more about her life and her work, I still feel it is best summarized by BrainPOP’s Ada Lovelace video, which is designed for kids."[19] Another reviewer felt that a good feature of BrainPOP's movies is their brevity: "just enough to capture and engage children."[20]
The educational site connexions.org wrote: "I recommend this site to teachers who want to inform and entertain their students. The videos are a unique educational tool with loveable characters. ... BrainPOP will not only enliven the classroom, but the site is dependable with lessons following state and grade-level standards."[21][22] Teach Magazine noted, "Tim and Moby ... illustrate often difficult concepts in a fun format uniquely suited for the 21st-century learner."[23] In 2010, The New York Times wrote of the company's iPhone application: "BrainPOP is a worthy app, featuring a new brief educational cartoon every day. The cartoon is followed by a quick quiz that will at times challenge even a grown-up."[24] The Epoch Times featured the application as its "iPhone App of the Week" and called the movies "usually funny, if somewhat corny, and always engaging".[25] In 2011, Canada's TEACH Magazine wrote that the movies are presented "in a fun format uniquely suited for the 21st-century learner. ... BrainPop movies are ideal for both group and one-on-one settings and can be used to introduce new lessons or topics or to illustrate complex themes as review before a test.[12]
Tim (short for Timothy) is a smart teenager in middle school. He does most of the talking in the movies and can understand what Moby says. Often at the end of the movies he will get Moby in trouble, or vice versa. The design on his shirt almost always matches the topic being covered.[26]
Moby is an orange robot who communicates in beeping noises (similar to R2D2 from Star Wars).[15] The three lights on his chest light up when he beeps, and Tim usually translates what he's saying. Moby is Tim's friend but loves to drive him crazy. Moby usually helps out by fetching things for Tim and asking questions about the topic they are discussing. As a robot, he can do things that Tim is unable to do, such as changing his hand into a freeze-ray, sending himself back in time, throwing garbage into a black hole in space, removing his head and using lasers. It is often hinted that he wants to take over the world with Tim. In some movies, it is supposed that Tim and Moby are brothers. Moby likes running (as his exercise), chocolate, peanut butter, peas and anchovy milkshakes. He also likes baseball and plays the piano, the tenor saxophone and the electric guitar. Some of the movies show Moby owning collections. He has a pet blue dog-bird hybrid.[26]
Some of the movies, especially those in the Space sub-category, imply that Moby is of an extraterrestrial origin, such as the Earth movie. The Radar movie hints that Moby is from Saturn's moon, Titan. In the Milky Way movie, Moby points to the star he came from and explains that he has a home planet, but when Tim asks him what it is called, he says that he doesn't remember. In the Mars movie, Tim mentions something about people mistaking Moby for a Martian, but when he is about to mention where Moby really comes from, Moby interrupts and glares at him angrily, prompting Tim to move on. However, the Leonardo da Vinci movie ends with Moby sliding down a panel on his chest, revealing a panel labeled "Robots by Leonardo", implying that he was invented by da Vinci (though Tim is skeptical about this).[26]
Cassie and Rita are two teenage middle school girls, who are best friends and are mainly featured in comics that accompany many of the movies in the "FYI" section. They also occasionally appear in the movies, and even narrate a few of them. Rita tends to be more composed and intelligent, while Cassie tends to be more absent-minded. A common theme in the comic strip is Cassie doing something silly and Rita helping her. Cassie has a goldfish named Puffer and two hermit crabs. Like Moby, she enjoys annoying Tim, though they do not interact much. Rita has a ginger cat named Pickle and a dog named Dakota. Some of the movies imply that Rita has a romantic interest in Tim and that he returns her feelings.
Bob is a rat with a broken tail and a patched chest. He is featured in experiments called "Experiments with Bob the Ex-Lab Rat", which relate to the movies. People write to him asking for ideas for experiments, and sometimes, he sends them to Tim and Moby so they can make a movie about them. Bob has been featured in many of the movies, often conducting experiments.
Gary and gary are also featured in some comics on BrainPOP, called "How To With Gary and gary", which show how to do something safely. The capitalized "Gary" is the father, and the lowercase "gary" is the son.
BrainPOP Jr. was launched in 2006.[27] It is similar to BrainPOP in subject areas, but the movies are geared towards grades K-3 (age 6-9). They star Moby and a little girl named Annie. The site offers a free "Movie of the Week", as well as several free movies in the different curricular areas.[28]
Annie is a young girl who narrates the movies. She wears red framed glasses and also works with Moby. She has a sister named Mia who talks on the cell phone too much, is allergic to dust and gets angry when Annie says something embarrassing about her. There are many hints in BrainPOP Jr. that Annie is Mexican. For instance, her dog's name is Sr. Maurice, and she sometimes refers to her father as "papi". Her best friend is named Becca.
In BrainPOP Jr., Moby shows his emotions more often, like crying or getting excited. Moby is more kind-hearted in BrainPOP Jr. than in BrainPOP. He can also do things the other Moby can't do, like sneeze, sweat, and drink things, like water. He can also be sick and smell flowers.
Frank and Joey are two fish that star in the comic strip "Belly Up."
BrainPOP ESL (English as a second language) is a website launched in 2009[29] that displays animated videos providing grammar and vocabulary instruction and interactive exercises for non-native English speakers of all ages. Each video contains an animated story, an introduction to new vocabulary, and an illustration of relevant grammar topics. The narrator is a boy named Ben, who is accompanied by Moby the robot. The videos provide a series of increasingly challenging contextualized language and content exercises for English learners, starting with beginner levels and progressing to advanced levels.[30] The site allows students to select review activities, such as “Words, Words, Words”, a vocabulary exercise that uses flashcards and includes a pronunciation guide. The “Hear it, Say it” section also reinforces vocabulary and speaking. The “Read it” section strengthens reading comprehension. “Write it” offers writing practice: beginning writers practice tracing the alphabet, while more advanced students write a short paragraph based on a prompt. There are also games and quizzes to review ideas from the videos.[31] Internet-based websites have been shown to be useful tools to supplement in-class instruction for ESL students.[32] The site employs a proven technique called "Direct Teaching", which emphasizes explicit teaching of skills such as letter-sound associations, spelling patterns and vocabulary words. It also gives students positive reinforcement for completing each BrainPop ESL unit.[33]
BrainPOP Educators was introduced in 2008.[34] It is an online community of 125,000 teachers,[35] and parents who use BrainPOP. This free site offers answer keys to activity pages, graphic organizers, professional development materials, posters, clipart and other resources for educators.[12] It also allows educators to collaborate and share resources, such as lesson plans, organizers and activities for students. The site also offers video tutorials and webinars.[7][9]
In June 2011, BrainPOP launched its educational games site, GameUp, which contains a collection of free online games that coordinate with the BrainPOP, BrainPOP Junior and BrainPOP ESL curricula. The site, like BrainPOP's other sites, is supported by BrainPOP Educators.[6]