The BrainPOP UK app contains an enormous amount of help for tackling those hard to answer questions about the mysteries of life within maths, science, English, technology, arts and PSHE. It does this using animated films hosted by Tim and his robot, Moby – who do a grand job of explaining some pretty tough ideas. The films are always informative and engaging and would be brilliant to play in a range of contexts, especially for diving into more painstaking ideas that require a bit of head scratching.
The basic premise is that pupils and friends write letters to Tim and Moby asking questions. The duo then explain what’s what, providing answers in their own unique, and often very understandable, way.
There is little doubt that these clever animations will encourage interest, investigation and independent exploration. I can see an explosion of spoof Tim and Moby films on a range of topics being acted out be children everywhere, and this would be a brilliant stimulus for getting pairs of children write their own questions for another ‘Tim and Moby’ to answer.
Although some of the content isn’t suitable for primary, the range of information on offer is impressive. If I could make a change, I would bring the app closer in line with the National Curriculum to serve learners more appropriately.