DISCIPLINES IN EDUCATION

ALGEBRA
The application called Algebra takes what appears to be a course book and puts it into an interactive form within the app.  It not only has video lessons to go along with all of the material it also has a vast amount of practice problems and solutions to go with it.  Each lesson has a tutorial, practice, challenge, and a test that can be given.  While there is no open area in the app for scrap space for solving problems it does allow the students to go through each problem step by step to see if they are heading in the right direction.  I feel like this would be a great way to go through a course at least once with each video in the classroom so that students are able to relate to what they saw in class with what they will be doing at home.  There doesn't seem to be any kind of feature to connect student to teacher so it is an app that stands on its own.  Homework and tests must be given through another medium since this app will not help you record grades.

MULTIPLE GRAPHING PROGRAMS
The different graphing programs on the iPads that I had a chance to play with were interesting but extremely hard to understand.  The simple graphing program Quick Graph seemed to be the free version and had a few features locked but it was also hard to input equations as well as understand what exactly was going on when a proper equation was input to the graph.  I could not even figure out a way to clear my own graph.  It seemed very simplistic in its style and functionality.  I doubt I would ever use something like this in the classroom.  While I do feel like the iPad has the capability to replace a graphing calculator I do not feel that with what I have seen it is possible just yet.  I also looked an app called Graphbook but it was not the full version and would only let me play with a pre-rendered sea shell in a 3D form.  Pocket CAS was just as difficult to use and I could not even figure out how to get the keyboard to show!  There was a button to pull it up but nothing I could do would let me input my own equations.  I had no luck with any of the graphing solutions on the iPad.

THE OTHERS
The only other applications on my iPad under the Math category are Beat the Computer: Multiplication, Find Sums, and Jumbo Calculator.  While all of these are fully functional and extremely simple in design and application they serve their purpose.  Unfortunately, they are focused on younger ages and more simple mathematical problems such as multiplication and addition.  The Jumbo Calculator was nice and had an upgrade feature.  I'm sure that if this was a scientific or graphing calculator I could easily put it into use with a middle school classroom but since it is a basic four function calculator it has limited use.

MATHBOARD
I found one more app that was not under the Math section of my iPad.  This application is one that I watched a tutorial video for before finding it and found it to be one of the best designed apps for elementary education.  It does simple arithmetic but does it in a way that gives you scrap area to write out your process, multiple choice answers, and times your test so you know how fast you can solve certain problems.  Once again, it does not hold much application in the middle grades unless there is a student that is truly struggling with these basic functions.  It is cleanly designed, easy to use, and accomplishes its purpose of repetitive drilling for practice.