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WordClouds

Mindprint Rating

Tags

^Music, Art and Makerspaces All Ages Website

Skills

Flexible Thinking Verbal Reasoning

Mindprint Expert Review

Pros

  • The site is free, and although there are ads, they are not distracting.
  • The wizard guides students easily through the process of adding words and customizing colors, shapes and fonts.

Considerations

  • There is no spell check, and this could be a challenge for emergent spellers.
  • Students do not have the option to give the word cloud a title or description.

Mindprint Expert Review

Word clouds are a fun way to present related ideas, adjectives or concepts. This free site is particularly easy to use, despite advertisements at the top and bottom of the page. Students can start by using the wizard button which shows how to type in words or paste them from another a document. Students then can easily change the background color, font size and color and the shape in which the words are organized. Once finished, students can save their files as a JPEG, GIF or PDF to print and share. The weighting option allows users to choose which words will be emphasized with a bigger relative size. Word clouds are a great way to encourage students to brainstorm related adjectives, ideas, etc. based on a theme. This free site is particularly easy to use.

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)
  • Requires registration before using the first time
  • 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

Cognitive Concerns

May not be advisable for students with the following cognitive needs

  • Spelling