How to Use BrainPOP (for Students)

BrainPOP is an educational website with over 1,000 videos through K-12 used by thousands of schools across the world. As a student, you will have access to videos, games, and more. This article will show you the basics of using BrainPOP as a student.

Using BrainPOP

Go to www.brainpop.com.

Sign in with your account.

Join a class.

Click on Enter Code to join a class, then use your teacher’s provided code (a combination of letters and numbers) to join.

Look at the homepage.

The top of the page shows all of the subjects. WH.shared.addScrollLoadItem(’98d9a969d32b1ff1f72a73c57b230980′)
If you scroll down, there will be “Today’s BrainPOP Topic.” WH.shared.addScrollLoadItem(‘4af80bff29c3d8ef3831c1a5c917a078’)
Near the bottom of the page, there will be links to BrainPOP Jr, BrainPOP ELL (BrainPOP for English learners), and GameUp (BrainPOP learning games). WH.shared.addScrollLoadItem(‘d8c984e93b520213fd11d58fe933709c’)
At the very bottom of the page, there will be the BrainPOP characters/narrators. If you click on a character, it will lead you to a random video. These characters include: WH.shared.addScrollLoadItem(’13a10126d7fee7c8d7f9b8aa79ad8742′)
Moby (the orange robot included in all BrainPOP, BrainPOP Jr, and BrainPOP ELL videos)Tim (a mixed-race male included in BrainPOP videos — added since the beginning of BrainPOP in 1999)Nat (a black female included in some BrainPOP videos — her character was added in 2019)Cassie (a girl with brown hair and freckles, included in some BrainPOP videos — her character was redesigned)Rita (a girl with black glasses in some BrainPOP videos — she is Tim’s love interest)Mateo (a boy with short black hair included in two BrainPOP videos — he was added in 2021)Annie (a girl with black pigtails included in all BrainPOP Jr videos)Ben (a boy with wild black hair included in BrainPOP ELL videos)
Moby (the orange robot included in all BrainPOP, BrainPOP Jr, and BrainPOP ELL videos)
Tim (a mixed-race male included in BrainPOP videos — added since the beginning of BrainPOP in 1999)
Nat (a black female included in some BrainPOP videos — her character was added in 2019)
Cassie (a girl with brown hair and freckles, included in some BrainPOP videos — her character was redesigned)
Rita (a girl with black glasses in some BrainPOP videos — she is Tim’s love interest)
Mateo (a boy with short black hair included in two BrainPOP videos — he was added in 2021)
Annie (a girl with black pigtails included in all BrainPOP Jr videos)
Ben (a boy with wild black hair included in BrainPOP ELL videos)

Select a video to watch.

You can use the search bar to search up specific videos, or click on a subject.
If you clicked on a subject (e.g. Social Studies, Math, etc.) click on either Units or Topics. The button contains separate units contained in the subject. For example, the Science subject includes “Cellular Life and Genetics”, “Diversity of Life”, “Nature of the Universe”, and “Forces of Nature” units.
Topics are all of the videos contained in each unit and subject. If you click on the tab, it will show you all of the videos.
Click on a topic to select a video to watch.

Watching a BrainPOP Video

Watch a BrainPOP video.

After you’ve clicked on the video, select Watch Movie.

There are a few moving slides. They show some of the content and characters in the video.
Select the “Play” button for the video to start.
Select the “Mute” button to change the volume.
Click “Closed Captions” to turn on subtitles.
Select “Settings” to change the speed of the video.
Select the “Fullscreen” button to play the video in full-screen mode.
Select the “Transcript” button to view the video transcript. You can see all of the dialogue and words seen in the video this way.

Check the bottom of the screen.

There are pages at the bottom of the screen that are related to the video.

The button contains the video.
The button contains quizzes for the video (if you want to review what you learned, or if it’s assigned).
The button allows you to make bubble maps and other diagrams to show what you learned.
The button allows you to make your own BrainPOP video.
The lets you make coding projects using BrainPOP characters.
The button contains extra information related to the BrainPOP movie.
The button lets you view vocabulary used in the BrainPOP video.
The and are BrainPOP games. The button contains games such as Time Zone X and Meaning of Beep.

Using Video Features on BrainPOP

Take a quiz on BrainPOP.

Click on the Quiz at the bottom of the screen. If you haven’t clicked on the video yet, the buttons are on the left side of the screen.

There are two options. You can either take the quiz for review or for a grade.
Answer the questions. There will be 10 questions in total.
Moby (on the bottom of the quiz) will tell you if your answer is correct.
If it is correct, he will beep. His head will also show up, and it will say, “Correct!” WH.shared.addScrollLoadItem(‘5b4346d5200344c9d48f392aaabd8f1d’)
If your answer is wrong, the answer you chose will be crossed out. You will need to choose another answer. If it’s still wrong, that answer will get crossed out too. This will keep repeating until you choose the correct answer. If you got a question wrong at least 2 times, it will count that question as wrong. WH.shared.addScrollLoadItem(‘590d0d03d76159e227cd832b63248da2’)

Make a diagram or map on BrainPOP.

The “Movie” tab allows you to watch the movie again.
The “Images” tab contains free BrainPOP images and pictures for you to use in your map.
The “Keywords” tab contains important vocabulary words that are used in the video.
Blank Nodes are text boxes that you can use. They can be connected to other text boxes using the arrows.
The “More” tab contains more options, like “Use Template”, “Add notes to map”, “Print map”, “Open other maps”, and “Create new map”.

Use the “Related Reading” tab.

There are many tabs on the “Related Reading” page. They contain extra detailed information about the BrainPOP topic.

At the very right side, there is always a comic. It usually shows Cassie, Rita, Tim, and Moby and their mishaps. WH.shared.addScrollLoadItem(‘5ee9a92b337ea477aa4a67553f4478b6’)

Review your vocabulary.

In BrainPOP videos, there are always a few key vocabulary terms you need to know.

You can flip the cards over to show its meaning.
You can also add new cards into your vocabulary set.
There is also an option to print out your flashcards if you want them offline.

Using Other Features on BrainPOP

Play an online game on BrainPOP.

Scroll down to find the BrainPOP Jr, BrainPOP ELL, and GameUp options. Click on the “GameUp” option. WH.shared.addScrollLoadItem(‘d8c984e93b520213fd11d58fe933709c_1’)
You can choose games by subject or by collection. WH.shared.addScrollLoadItem(‘e917d64eff418e8971f4a352cd0a2fc2’)
You can search up games and topics using the search bar.
Then, click on the game you want to play.
Follow all of the instructions.

See new videos on BrainPOP.

BrainPOP updates and adds new videos, so if you want to see them, click on the “New and Trending” tab.

There are tags on the videos saying if they are updated or new.
Scroll down to find the top movies for the week.
Scroll to the very bottom to see the historical figures’ birthdays for each month. (e.g. March Birthdays) WH.shared.addScrollLoadItem(‘f51a3886e1f93a67fee8631e088bb631’)

Tips

If you’re buying BrainPOP for your school, choose the “District” option. The “School” option is the most popular, but the “District” option has the best value, and you can get BrainPOP for your entire school district.
If you’re a student, making maps and using the vocabulary button to review your vocabulary really helps you study for quizzes and tests.
Some games in BrainPOP can be found on other websites. Many games from the company iCivics are found in BrainPOP For example, you can play Do I Have A Right (from iCivics) here. You can see instructions on how to play this game in this wikiHow article.