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Stack the States®

Mindprint Rating

Tags

Social Studies All Ages iOS App

Skills

Visual Discrimination

Mindprint Expert Review

Pros

  • The whole app looks fun including the great background pictures of famous landmarks.
  • Multiple players can save progress.
  • Students will improve intrinsic visual understanding of physics by seeing how the states fall from different heights and angles.

Considerations

  • Directions and questions cannot be read aloud and incorrect answers light up in red.
  • There is no activity for the user to place the states on the map of the U.S. so the app does not do a good job of teaching players where states are located on the map.
  • Students with motor weaknesses may struggle a little with rotating the states.

Mindprint Expert Review

This is a truly fun app for learning facts about the states. The player answers random questions about state capitals, flags and landmarks in a visually appealing multiple choice format. Correct answers are rewarded with a picture of the state which students must try to position, rotate and drop onto a pedestal without letting it bounce off. As more questions are answered correctly, the student must use visual reasoning skills to decide how to drop the state to keep the stack balanced. Once a player balances the stack to the checkered line, the student earns a state for the U.S. map which can be saved and completed over time. There are additional bonus games, such as Map It, Puzzler and Capital Drop and digital flash cards for students to read about each state. This is a fun and addictive app to learn the capitals, shapes, abbreviations, flags, nicknames, border states and landmarks of the U.S.

Academic Benefits

Improves academic skills

  • Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
  • Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
  • Presents educational concepts accurately
  • Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
  • Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
  • Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
  • Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

Fun

Engaging for the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
  • Subject matter and problems are relevant, interesting and authentic to students
  • Visually appealing to children in the target age range
  • Provides virtual rewards or incentives after meeting specified goals or objectives
  • Provides a "break activity" between academic problem sets
  • Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
  • Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

Easy to Use

Understandable for children in the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Has a free or trial version
  • Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
  • Provides an age-appropriate tutorial/first time users can work independently
  • Student should be able to use independently after first use
  • Has a multi-player option to foster in-person collaboration or cooperation
  • Multiple users can save a profile
  • Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
  • Can play without sound and not distract others
  • Students can save work between sessions
  • Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
  • Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
  • Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
  • Overall - Easy to use

Manufacturer Description

▸ Voted Best Kids App for iPad! -Best App Ever Awards
▸ Voted Best Educational Game App - iEAR.org
▸ "If you have children who are elementary school aged this is a fantastic educational app that’s also a hoot." - The iPhone Mom.com
▸ "Stack the States is a must have." - The iKids Blog

Stack the States® makes learning about the 50 states fun! Watch the states actually come to life in this colorful and dynamic game!

As you learn state capitals, shapes, geographic locations, flags and more, you can actually touch, move and drop the animated states anywhere on the screen. Carefully build a stack of states that reaches the checkered line to win each level.

You earn a random state for every successfully completed level. All of your states appear on your own personalized map of the United States. Try to collect all 50! As you earn more states, you begin to unlock the four free bonus games: Map It, Pile Up, Puzzler and Capital Drop. Four games in one!

HAVE FUN LEARNING ALL ABOUT THE 50 STATES:
▸ Capitals
▸ State shapes
▸ Abbreviations
▸ Bordering states
▸ Location on the map
▸ Nicknames
▸ Flags
...and more!

FEATURES:
▸ Hundreds of unique questions
▸ Interactive map and 50 state flash cards
▸ Choose any of the 50 friendly-looking states as your avatar
▸ Create up to six player profiles
▸ Collect all 50 states and track your progress on a personalized map
▸ Earn FREE bonus games: Map It, Pile Up, Puzzler and Capital Drop
▸ High resolution pictures of famous US landmarks
▸ All games are powered by a realistic physics engine
▸ Fun sound effects and music
▸ iPhone 4 and new iPad Retina Display support
▸ Works on both iPhone and iPad - a universal app

FIVE GAMES IN ONE:

STACK THE STATES: Build tall piles with states and try to reach the checkered line.

MAP IT: Tap the location of the selected state on the map. Try to complete the whole country.

PILE UP: The states are piling up! Tap them quickly to get rid of them before they pile too high.

PUZZLER: Sit back and relax as you slide the states around and put them together like a jigsaw puzzle.

CAPITAL DROP: Match states with their capitals in this fast-paced bonus game. Don't let a state fall!


Stack the States® is an educational app for all ages that's actually FUN to play. Try it now and enjoy five games for the price of one!

PRIVACY DISCLOSURE
Stack the States®:
- Does not contain 3rd party ads.
- Does not contain in-app purchases.
- Does not contain integration with social networks.
- Does not use 3rd party analytics / data collection tools.
- Does include links to apps by Dan Russell-Pinson in the iTunes App Store (via LinkShare).

For more information on our privacy policy please visit:
http://dan-russell-pinson.com/privacy/