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GET STARTED WITH BRAINPOP UK®

Table of Contents

ABOUT THIS GUIDE   2  WHO IS THIS GUIDE FOR?   2  WHAT DOES THIS GUIDE COVER?   2  WHAT DOESN’T THIS GUIDE COVER?   2  

ABOUT BRAINPOP   2  WHAT IS BRAINPOP?   2  WHAT ARE SOME EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS?   3  

ABOUT BRAINPOP UK’S RESOURCES   4  

SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS   7  CURRICULUM FOR EXCELLENCE MAPPING   7  

ACCESSING BRAINPOP UK RESOURCES   8  TECHNICAL DETAILS   8  ACCESS THE WEB VERSION OF BRAINPOP UK   8  BRAINPOP UK APPS   9  

COOL EXTRAS   10  

CONTACT BRAINPOP UK   10  

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About this Guide

Who is this guide for?

All Teaching and support staff at an educational establishment that

accesses BrainPOP UK through GLOW. Please forward to any colleagues

that may use BrainPOP UK.

This is not a guide for parents or students, though you are welcome to

use any of this doc for your own communications.

What does this guide cover?

It is intended to introduce new users to BrainPOP UK, and provide an

overview of the product, learning resources, and technology.

What doesn’t this guide cover?

It’s not an in-depth pedagogical manual, nor does it try to deliver

teaching strategies on specific subjects. As BrainPOP is designed to be

easy to navigate and use there’s no ‘click by click’ walkthrough. We find

teachers tend to build their own “BrainPOP style”, but you are welcome

to request a free training webinar to learn more. There’s also lots of

support on our regularly updated POPtalk blog.

About BrainPOP

What is BrainPOP?

BrainPOP UK consists of 700+ cross curricular and cross phase Topics

for P3-S2, containing 10,000+ hours of digital teaching material.

BrainPOP provides teachers and students with an accessible and

integrated suite of digital content and tools, delivering a safe, engaging

way for children to independently study and reinforce ideas, concepts,

and facts.

The site and apps design presents a progressive pathway of learning via

appropriate content for Science, Humanities, Numeracy and

Mathematics; Social Studies; English, Design & Technology, Computing,

The Arts, and Online Safety.

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BrainPOP UK is mapped to the Curriculum for Excellence Levels 1-4;

this levelling is easily accessed through BrainPOP’s dedicated

Curriculum Mapping tool.

What are some educational benefits?

Independent learners are more engaged learners

Our high quality digital teaching resources provide a safe way for

children to study and research new topics and for teachers to illustrate

complex curriculum concepts. As well as front of class and group/pair

work, consider BrainPOP for remediation, 1-2-1 support, and

thematic/project-based learning.

Increase student confidence

BrainPOP is more engaging than a text book, safer than Youtube, and

way more fun than Wikipedia! Our resources will bring the curriculum to

life for your students, and increase subject understanding and

enjoyment.

Formative assessment (the BrainPOP way)

Use our interactive quizzes and ‘best in class’ learning games to

monitor student understanding, providing feedback that can be used to

improve teaching and learning.

Opportunities to promote literacy

Engaging students with literacy across curriculum subjects is a priority

for all schools. BrainPOP provides multiple possibilities to improve

literacy knowledge using subtitles, vocabulary sheets, non-fiction texts,

and predictive keyword search.

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About BrainPOP UK’s resources

BrainPOP is made up of individual ‘Topic’ pages, discrete collections of

high quality assets on a subject. The central element in each BrainPOP

Topic is a unique short animated video, between 3-5 minutes that taps

into this generation’s fluency with short bursts of video media.

Each BrainPOP Topic consists of various inter-related assets around a

subject, concept, or idea. This suite of materials brings together the

vital components required by practitioners to deliver compelling lessons:

1. Videos - The central element in each BrainPOP Topic is a unique

short animated video, lasting between 3-5 minutes and delivering

the key concepts in an accessible, fun, and engaging manner.

2. Background information - BrainPOP’s “FYI” sections are non-

fiction texts attached to every Topic, which add further context

to the main animated video. FYIs vary in their approach to meet

the Topic requirements and include categories such as

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“Language”, “In Depth”, “Trivia”, “Did you know?” etc. Each FYI

endeavors to help the student understand how the concept

applies to real life and also encourages students to conduct

further independent research around the subject. All parts of an

FYI section are printable or downloadable as PDF’s.

3. Images - Images are included in our FYIs. Each image is

supported by text rather than in isolation.

4. Lesson ideas - Each Lesson Idea helps practitioners plan

activities for their students and include:

• Suitable age range

• Objective

• Outcomes

• Materials

• Preparation

• Lesson Procedure

• Vocabulary

• Activities (both within BrainPOP and away from the computer)

5. Extension activities - Activities are practical exercises and

worksheets that can be completed online or printed. They are

designed to expand upon the learning gained in the animated

videos, either to reinforce or allow learners who require more

challenging tasks to continue at their own pace.

6. Interactive Multiple choice quizzes - Quiz questions relate

directly to events in the video and enable the teacher to assess

the learning that happened during the video and provide extension

activities to reflect on the learning. They are also often used as

part of a formative assessment process, or shown before a video

to take a snapshot of student or whole class understanding. Each

quiz is 10 questions long and can be taken in one of three ways:

• Graded Quiz – Scores can be sent to the teacher

• Review Quiz – To help learners test themselves

• Printed Quiz – Each quiz can be printed to be completed by

hand or for example as homework

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7. Learning games “GameUp” - Educational Games are featured

throughout BrainPOP where appropriate and judged to have a

beneficial impact on learning.

Educational games are excellent for tiered learning in the

classroom as high-achieving learners can be kept engaged while

learners who may struggle can go at their own pace.

Faster learners remain engaged as they can proceed through

levels at a quicker pace and work to beat their own personal

bests; they can even help other learners by explaining their

strategies further cementing their own knowledge by articulating

the concepts to others.

Slower learners benefit from instant feedback to prevent

misunderstanding of concepts that must then be unlearnt, and

the ability to advance at their own pace.

8. Predictive search – Site wide predictive search allows users

with low literacy levels to easily and independently locate

resources.

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Support for teachers

BrainPOP includes a number of different methods to provide guidance

for teachers including how to use the resources for whole class

teaching, collaborative and independent working, and revision.

Curriculum for Excellence mapping

Our Curriculum Matching tool makes it quick and easy for teachers to

find the most appropriate resource. BrainPOP’s resources are matched

directly to the CfE Experiences and Outcome statements. The resultant

search displays the statement and the resources available.

Teacher Use - BrainPOP has a section dedicated to help teachers get

the best out of BrainPOP and hear how other educators have

successfully integrated BrainPOP into their teaching. Our Teacher Use

section covers a wide range of topics, including:

• Create Outstanding Lessons with BrainPOP

• BrainPOP Lesson Tips and Techniques

• BrainPOP and SEN Children

• Support for Learning at Carluke High School

• Making Great use of Technology

• Project Based Learning

• Collaborative Learning

Because we work closely with our teacher community we are constantly

adding and updating this section, reflecting current practice.

Teacher Views - BrainPOP Buzz features views from BrainPOP

educators in UK and overseas giving a varied and interesting account of

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different teaching and learning strategies. This diverse look at BrainPOP

gives practical advice, tips and testimonials.

Lesson Ideas - found on Topic pages, Lesson Ideas are the perfect

place to find inspiration on how best to use BrainPOP to facilitate

collaborative and independent working. Each Lesson Idea gives

numerous options on how to adapt the resources to various learning

strategies.

Accessing BrainPOP UK resources

Technical details

• BrainPOP is wholly cloud based and requires an internet

connection.

• The website needs to be accessed through a Flash supported

browser.

• The apps are free to download and are available through Apple’s

App store and Google’s Play store.

• BrainPOP does not store student data

Access the web version of BrainPOP UK

1. Log in to your GLOW account

2. Locate and click the BrainPOP UK App tile

3. You will be automatically logged in and taken to the BrainPOP UK

website

If you have any queries regarding your access through GLOW, please

contact your local GLOW administrator or contact the RM Support team

at http://www.rm.com/support/

NOTE: If you try to access the BrainPOP UK website on a mobile device

or non-Flash enabled browser you will be re-directed to download our

free app.

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BrainPOP UK Apps

 Your BrainPOP UK account also provides access to all BrainPOP UK

movies and quizzes through our free apps, which need to be unlocked in

the app with your school’s unique app username and password.

NOTE: When you joined BrainPOP you will have been issued your app

login. If you need a reminder please email info@brainpop.co.uk.

Get the BrainPOP UK apps for Apple and Android:

http://www.brainpop.co.uk/support/mobile

• The app is free to download to unlimited devices, and will show the

movie and quiz of the day.

• Subscribing schools can unlock all 700+ topics with their

username and password.

• Once unlocked the app remains logged in, unless the user

physically chooses to log out or uninstall the app.

• Quiz results are tracked (per device) for better personalised

assessment.

• Every movie is fully subtitled, can go full screen and can be

paused and scanned easily.

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• The app also has “predictive search” which means the app tries to

guess what word the student is searching before they finish

typing it. This helps children with low levels of literacy ability.

Cool Extras

• POPbox - embed (for free) our daily featured movie into your

school blog or website by requesting our popular POPbox:

http://www.brainpop.co.uk/blog/request-a-popbox/

• Google Apps - If you use or are considering Google Apps for

Education you should check out our integration:

http://www.brainpop.co.uk/blog/brainpop-uk-google-app-for-

education

• Spotlights – Thematic collections of cross curricular topics on

subjects such as financial literacy, environmental awareness, and

being a good digital citizen!:

http://www.brainpop.co.uk/spotlights/allspotlights/

Contact BrainPOP UK

UK: 0800 141 2404 (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, not including public

holidays)

International: +44 (0)1865 263 000

email: info@brainpop.co.uk

Twitter: @BrainPOP_UK

Fax: 01865 243 893

BrainPOP UK

58 St. Aldates

Oxford

OX1 1ST