LOCPix App

The Library of Congress is a wonderful resource for teachers, especially in the Humanities. If you’re looking for a good, quick resource for historical photos, political cartoons, architecture and engineering drawings, and other useful visuals to compliment your history classes, try out the free LOCPix app.

This app puts the collections of the Library of Congress in your hands and in your classroom. Easily searchable, easy to save, easy to print (you can even send postcards with LOC collection prints!), these prints, photos, illustrations, and records will be a great resource for history teachers and students.

Fotopedia Apps

If you are looking for beautiful photos of the most interesting places around the world, either to integrate into a lesson or just because you are experiencing wanderlust, try some of the free apps offered by Fotopedia. Lately I’ve been wandering the streets of Paris with Fotopedia Paris, which comes with one thousand stunning photos from around the City of Light.

Fotopedia apps also include information posts along with each photo, maps to find the location of each photo, trip planners, and collections of photos that tell stories related to a particular theme.

Check out all of the free apps made by Fotopedia in the app store!

Art Authority for iPad App

Art Authority is a must-have app for any Fine Art or Art History teacher. With more than 50,000 of the world’s greatest works of art available to view on the iPad’s beautiful screen, this app would be a great addition to teacher or student iPads.

Search for works of art, artists, locations, and major art periods. Pinch to zoom in on each work, click for more information, find similar works, and watch slideshows compiled within the app.

One drawback may be that the app uses Wikipedia when you click links for more information on each work, so you’ll have to be sure to check your facts. Overall, however, this app is so full of major works of art, from prehistoric art to contemporary works, and has so many useful tools, that it’s worth the $4.99 it costs.

Smithsonian and Science 360 for iPad Apps

There are a lot of educational video apps out there just waiting to be put to use in the classroom. Science 360 for iPad and the Smithsonian Channel app are just two that work well and provide great information from trusted sources.

Science 360 for iPad from the National Science Foundation is a good resource for science teachers, providing videos, photos, and background information on a variety of subjects. The interface leaves something to be desired, but if you have the patience to get used to the virtual 360 “room” and manage to find the search feature (it took me few minutes to locate it within the app), you might be rewarded with a video that will help your students gain a greater understanding of a concept or lesson.

The free Smithsonian Channel app is another great resource for full episodes and video clips on a variety of subjects. Search through featured videos, search by topic, and create your own “channel” that will auto-play up to six full videos or video clips in a row. These videos will be sure to engage students in history classes, science classes, art classes, in both the Middle and Upper School.

Congressional Record and My Congress Apps

For Social Studies and Government teachers, the Congressional Record app from the Library of Congress and the My Congress app should be on the front pages of your iPad screens.

The Library of Congress has created an app that puts the congressional records of the United States House of Delegates and Senate in the palm of your hand. Search by date (as far back as 1995), or search for key words or phrases within each document, and email yourself an entire record or save them to your iPad to read later.

My Congress is a great teaching tool when you want to show your students who represents their state in the U.S.Congress. Find your representatives by zip code, or just let the iPad do the work for you with its auto-locate feature. Bookmark delegates and senators, view their voting record, web sites, twitter feeds, and more. This app has an easy to navigate interface and is fun to use!