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"If you have a penchant for learning at home or on the move, 2012 saw a slew of handy apps that could help you in your endeavors.\r\n\r\nIndeed, The Next Web covered thousands of apps throughout this year, from nifty new browser extensions, to the latest game-changing Android and iOS apps, so we sifted through the archives and pulled out some of best educational apps of 2012\u2026just for you.\r\n\r\nDon\u2019t miss\u00A0our other 2012 lists\u00A0for more great recommendations.\r\n\r\nIBM Think\r\n\r\nIBM Think is an iPad and Android tablet app that charts the evolution of technology.\r\n\r\nIt's actually the Think\u00A0pop-up exhibit\u00A0held at New York City\u2019s Lincoln Center in 2011, reimagined in app form,. Indeed, this exhibit was also recently installed in the Museum of Modern Art\u2019s (MOMA) permanent collection too.\r\n\r\nInspired by centuries of scientific innovation, IBM Think sets out to show how early tools have evolved into the modern technological masterpieces we see today.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 IBM Think:\u00A0iPad\u00A0|\u00A0Android tablets\r\n\r\nLanguages\r\n\r\nLanguages is a fast and lovely offline translation dictionary app for iOS.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe main app interface is a bookshelf with language dictionaries on it. You then tap a dictionary to download it to your device, at which point it becomes available both online and offline.\r\n\r\nIt has a clean, beautiful interface featuring a minimum amount of buttons on any given screen (max is 2). Instead of just typing a query and getting the results (which you can do), you\u2019re also able to browse the entire dictionary word-by-word. This ensures context, so you always know where you are in the larger scheme of things, and can quickly bounce from one word to another without losing your way.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 Languages | iOS\r\n\r\nDailyArt\r\n\r\nDailyArt delivers one piece of classic art to your iOS or Android device each day.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDailyArt is your daily dose of classic paintings, serving up a proverbial shot of espresso to awaken the inner culture vulture in you, however fleeting this may be.\r\n\r\nEach day you receive a push notification with a classic art piece - open it, read a little background information around the artist and painting, and then go back to uploading random photos of your coffee mug to Instagram. If that\u2019s what you normally do, of course.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 DailyArt: iOS\u00A0|\u00A0Android\r\n\r\nWikiweb\r\n\r\nWikiweb is a beautiful Wikipedia app that lets you visualize connections between articles.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe iOS app's main selling point is as a Wikipedia reader that not only serves up the usual content crowdsourced from willing bodies around the world, but it also visualizes the connections between articles.\r\n\r\nYou can explore any Wikipedia article, and you\u2019ll be issued with articles containing gorgeous, beautifully presented typeset. But the presentation is only part of the appeal here. It lets you discover interesting articles through connections you may not have initially expected.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 Wikweb | iOS\r\n\r\nAtlas by Collins\r\n\r\n\r\nAtlas by Collins is a beautiful and immersive way to explore Earth, letting users explore the world through a collection of interactive 3D globes, displaying visual data about this planet we call home.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nComing in at a rather punchy $9.99 (\u00A36.99), this 620Mb monster will likely deter a lot of people from downloading it, especially those with limited space on their iOS device.\r\n\r\nBut moving beyond these minor (?) points, what we have on our hands here is a beautiful, immersive app that\u2019s likely to appeal to people of all ages. Collins partnered with London development agency The Other Media to produce this app, a company also responsible for Wonders of the Universe (see below).\r\n\r\n\u27A4 Atlas by Collins | iOS\r\n\r\nWonders of the Universe\r\n\r\nWonders of the Universe is an iPad app that packs in a custom 3D rendering engine, tons of video, text and image content from Professor Brian Cox\u2019s Wonders series, accompanied by a brand new interface that works like nothing else you\u2019ve seen from an \u2018interactive book\u2019 before.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOur universe is rendered in stunning visual detail out from clouds of galaxies down to the subatomic building blocks of life.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 Wonders of the Universe | iPhone/iPad\r\n\r\nClassDojo\r\n\r\nClassDojo secured $1.6m in seed funding back in August, just as its student behaviour-improvement Web platform rolled out of beta.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThrough the app, teachers create a free account, add their students\u2019 names and customize the behaviors they want to encourage. During class, positive behavior is reinforced by dishing out feedback points to students, using any computer, tablet or smartphone; these feedback points are displayed in real-time in the classroom with audio-visual cues.\r\n\r\nThe underlying platform automatically compiles this data into reports, letting teachers monitor progress, trends and share information with parents.\r\n\r\nClassDojo's iOS app launched a month after the initial Web app, also helping teachers bring order to their classrooms, and is designed for all mobile Apple devices.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 ClassDojo: Web | iOS\r\n\r\nInstinct\r\n\r\nInstinct launched its sweet interactive guitar-tuition Web app to the public earlier this month.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWith its built-in pitch-detection tool, you simply play along to your computer's microphone and the app tells you whether your guitar's in tune, and also whether the note you're playing is the right one for the song.\r\n\r\nThere are eight different courses at the time of writing, from absolute beginner all the way up to 12-bar blues.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 Instinct\r\n\r\nWikipedia\r\n\r\nWikipedia may have been one of the Web\u2019s most recognizable brands for years, but it sure took its time to roll out an official Android app.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAn iOS app has been available since 2009, so it wasn\u2019t entirely clear why it took more than two years to hit Android. In January this year it finally launched on Google\u2019s mobile OS, and we must say it is actually a very nice app.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 Wikipedia | Android\r\n\r\nThe Clean Dictionary\r\n\r\nThe Clean Dictionary is a great way to search for the spellings and meanings of words without being bombarded by annoying advertisements.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nYou can even school your Twitter or Facebook friends by sharing a word\u2019s meaning, thanks to the embedded share buttons beside each definition.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 The Clean Dictionary\r\n\r\nReading Bear\r\n\r\nJimmy Wales may be the well-known \u2018face\u2019 of Wikipedia, but he also has a lesser-known co-founder called Larry Sanger, who left the crowdsourced encyclopedia project shortly after it launched. And after nearly a year of development, Sanger released a neat new online learning tool aimed squarely at kids, called Reading Bear, which is a \u201Csystematic phonics tutorial.\u201D\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nReading Bear sells itself as \u201Cthe first free reading site online that takes students systematically through all \u2014 not just a selection \u2014 of the main phonics principles, using innovative multimedia presentations.\u201D\r\n\r\nIn a nutshell, Reading Bear is designed to help children learn to read, using a hybrid of videos, PowerPoint presentations, and ebooks.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 Reading Bear\r\n\r\nHow to Draw and Paint\r\n\r\nHow to Draw &amp;amp;amp; Paint was Future Publishing's attempt at getting folk, well, drawing and painting. The iPad app was its latest addition to its digital arsenal, with each edition arriving with interactive content that shows readers how to use Photoshop to create digital artwork in a particular style.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe series kicked off with How to Draw &amp;amp;amp; Paint Manga in its first issue, featuring a gallery of well-known manga artists, whilst incorporating animated lessons on how to get to grips with the basics of the genre.\r\n\r\n\u27A4 How to Draw and Paint\r\n\r\nHopefully you\u2019ll be able to find at least a few apps here that have thus far escaped your radar. And if you want to check out the best productivity, lifehack, travel, media, photo, video, employment, job-hunting and social apps of 2012 too, be sure to keep tabs on our upcoming roundups over the next week or so.\r\n\r\nDisclosure: This article contains affiliate links. While we only ever write about products we think deserve to be on the pages of our site, The Next Web may earn a small commission if you click through and buy the product in question. For more information, please see our\u00A0Terms of Service.\r\n\r\nFeature Image Credit: Black Vanilla | Flickr"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/12/27/12-of-the-best-educational-apps-of-2012/>