Free Technology for Teachers

Go Skiing With 2010 Winter Olympians

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:09:00 +0000

Just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics Google has added some really neat Street View imagery. According to a post on the Google Lat Long Blog, Google strapped a camera to a snowmobile to record imagery of the downhill ski slopes at Whistler Mountain where the men's downhill skiing competition will be held. Check it out in the map below.

View Larger Map

Applications for Education
The Street View imagery of the ski mountains give students another good way to explore and learn about the 2010 Winter Olympics. You may want to couple these views with the 3D Olympic venue tours available in Google Earth.

If you would like some more resources for learning and teaching about the 2010 Winter Olympics, Larry Ferlazzo has started a good list.

Photo Essay - Earliest Gunpowder Weapons in History

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:47:00 +0000

As anyone that has taught a history class knows, one of the questions that a lot students (mostly male) ask is "when are we going to talk about wars?" Wars and weapons seem to get adolescent students excited about history. Environmental Graffiti has an interesting photo essay that may be of interest to that group of students that is intrigued by wars and weapons. The Earliest Gunpowder Weapons in History contains thirteen images (most in the public domain or Creative Commons licensed) with captions about the earliest gunpowder weapons.

Image credit Gary Lee Todd.

Applications for Education
The Earliest Gunpowder Weapons in History contains images that could spark the imagination of some of your history students and become the center of a conversation. As most of the images are in the public domain or Creative Commons licensed you could use them in a VoiceThread project with your students.

If you've never tried VoiceThread, you can find some tutorials here.

Glogster Announces Changes to Edu Accounts

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:05:00 +0000

Popular multimedia collage service Glogster has recently announced some changes to their free education accounts. Currently, the free version of Glogster Edu gives teachers the ability to create and manage up to 200 student accounts. Starting on March 1, 2010 Glogster will limit the free edu accounts to 100 student accounts. However, if you sign up by February 28, 2010 you can still get the version that gives you the ability to create and manage 200 student accounts. So if you've been considering using Glogster in your classroom, sign up now for a free account.

If you're not familiar with Glogster, here are some previous posts you may want to review:

A Gallery of Glogs

A Great Glogster Tutorial

Wikipedia in the Classroom, David Warlick's Comments

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:08:00 +0000

Yesterday, I published a post titled Textbooks, Wikipedia, and Primary Source Research. That post generated some responses that somewhat surprised me. A few readers told me that their schools either block Wikipedia or have policies that don't allow students to use Wikipedia. These comments and emails reminded me of a video of a David Warlick presentation from late 2008. In the video (embedded below) around the 45 minute mark, David was taking questions from the audience and one of the audience members asked about Wikipedia. The audience member brought up all of the common complaints about Wikipedia being unreliable and a bad resource for students. David convincingly responded to all of her questions. You can advance to the 45 minute mark to see the Wikipedia comments, but I encourage you to watch the whole presentation. If you've never seen David Warlick speak, this video is well worth the time it takes to watch it all.

Physics 4 Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:54:00 +0000

Rader has been producing useful self-study lessons and quizzes for kids for quite a while. Many readers have probably seen this Rader before, but it's worthwhile to post for the benefit of those who aren't familiar with Rader's offerings. Physics 4 Kids is one five collections of science resources for kids produced by Rader.

Rader's Physics 4 Kids is part of a series of Rader's 4 Kids lessons about science. Physics 4 Kids takes students on tours of different sub-topics of physics. After each stop on the tour there is a quiz that students can take to test their understanding of each topic. Along with text and image information there are some short videos about different physics concepts along the tour.

Applications for Education
Student directed tours like the ones offered on Physics 4 Kids are great tools for differentiating activities within the classroom. Physics 4 Kids is a good resource for science teachers to link to a class web page or blog so that students and parents can study and test themselves outside of the classroom.

Study Guides for Black History Month

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:40:00 +0000

Shmoop, a study-guide provider that I've mentioned in a few other posts, recently published a list of 47 study guides for Black History Month. If you're still looking for resources for Black History Month, Shmoop's list is a good place to look. In addition to guides for English and history you will find resources for teaching with music.

Five Good Places to Find Math Tutorial Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:44:00 +0000

When I was a middle school and high school student, mathematics was the one subject for which I had to have visual demonstrations in order to comprehend its concepts. Unfortunately for me, when I was in high school I couldn't just jump on the Internet to find mathematics tutorial videos as today's students can. The following are five places that students can find free mathematics tutorial videos.

Math A Tube is a compilation of videos from a variety of users and other websites. Videos are categorized by mathematics topics and sub-topics. The videos demonstrate everything from basic addition through Geometry. The videos on Math A Tube are user-generated so some videos are better than others.

Math TV provides an extensive collection of high quality mathematics tutorials. Math TV's video lessons cover basic mathematics and Algebra. Math TV videos are not easily embedded in other websites, but they are free and you can create your own individualized playlists.

Tutor USA is a site that offers a variety of useful links for mathematics teachers and students. In addition to free worksheets and lesson plans, Tutor USA has built a nice collection of video tutorials. The videos in the collection come from sources like YouTube, Blip.tv, and TeacherTube. Some of the videos are quick how-to videos while others are longer lecture-style explanations of mathematics concepts.

Brightstorm is a provider of online study materials for mathematics as well as ACT and SAT preparation. The ACT and SAT preparation materials are not free, but the mathematics tutorials are free. The mathematics tutorials are videos featuring mathematics teachers explaining and demonstrating how to solve mathematics problems. There are tutorial videos covering Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus. The videos can be viewed on the Brightstorm site or you can embed them into your blog or wiki.

Mathtrain.TV is the product of students taught by Mr. Marcos at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, California. The site features videos in which students explain how to solve mathematics problems commonly attempted by middle school students. Mathtrain.TV also has videos made by teachers. Many of the videos are subtitled.

While not specifically devoted to math, some other good places to find mathematics tutorial videos are SchoolTube, TeacherTube, and Next Vista.

Visualizing President Obama's Budget Proposal

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:41:00 +0000

The New York Times has an interactive infographic of President Obama's 2011 budget proposal that depicts the various parts of the proposal in comparison to each other. The portions of the budget that are the largest, occupy the largest section of the graphic. Place your mouse pointer over any section of the graphic to reveal the numbers for the subsections of each portion of the budget. You can also compare the 2011 budget proposal with the 2010 budget.

Hat tip to Cool Infographics.

Applications for Education
If US current events are a part of your curriculum, the US budget is probably going to be a topic of discussion. This infographic gives students a quick reference for that discussion. You could also use this infographic as the launching point for an activity in which students research the subsections of the budget proposal.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
How Much is One Trillion Dollars?
State of the Union - Video, Transcript, and Wordle
Economics Education Resources from the IMF

How the Federal Reserve Works

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:52:00 +0000

Understanding the US Federal Reserve can be a very difficult task. (I have to refresh my memory before I teach it every year). Time has recently produced a short video that attempts to explain the functions of the Federal Reserve in simple terms. The video is just under four minutes in length.

Hat tip to Jeffery Hill for the video.

Applications for Education
Anyone that has tried to teach lessons on the US banking system knows the frustration that can come with trying to help students wrap their heads around the Federal Reserve System. This video doesn't cover it all, but it certainly could be helpful when used as a part of a larger lesson. The video may also give you some ideas for new approaches to explaining the Federal Reserve.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
Kid's Economic Glossary
Saving Money in Plain English
The History of Credit Cards in the United States

Textbooks, Wikipedia, and Primary Source Research

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:03:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I sent out a Tweet that my students were working on a comparison of Wikipedia articles to articles in their textbooks. Judging by the reTweets and replies to my message, a lot of people were interested in the activity. What I left out of my Tweet was the third part of the assignment in which my students had to locate and use primary source documents to gain more insight into the various topics. You can find the outline of the assignment here.

There were two purposes to this assignment. First to dispel the myths that Wikipedia is unreliable and that textbooks are gospel truth. The second purpose was for students to see the value of primary source documents for gaining insights into historical events and or people. Both goals were met. The topics my students were investigating were the Sand Creek Massacre, the Battle of Little Bighorn, and the Fort Laramie Treaties. The vast majority of my students reported that they found the textbook easier to use for finding the "main points," but that the Wikipedia articles had the same information. They also reported that the Wikipedia articles had more depth of information.

Where Wikipedia shone was in getting students started on their searches for primary source documents. As you'll see in the outline, I asked my students to use the links at the end of each Wikipedia article to further investigate each topic and locate primary source documents. What I did not include in the outline is that I also allowed students to simply search the web on their own to find primary source documents. As I expected, most of them came to the realization that a lot what they were finding through their own searches was already listed in the links at the end of the Wikipedia articles. At the end of the activity every student was able to identify and add new information to their knowledge base using the primary source documents they located.

I welcome your questions and feedback. And if you found the outline useful, by all means please feel free to reuse it in your classrooms.

"The Class" - Satire on Technology in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:08:00 +0000

I found this video through Professor Michael Wesch's blog.
If you're a fan of The Office, you will definitely appreciate this video. If you're not a fan of The Office, you will still notice that unfortunately too much of this video is an accurate reflection of what goes on in a lot of classrooms today.

The Problem With the Blogger Navbar - Fix It

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:02:00 +0000

The ease of use and integration with Google accounts, makes Blogger a very popular choice for teachers who are starting their first classroom blogs. But it's not without its faults in an education setting. The navigation bar that appears by default at the top of Blogger blogs can be useful for searching the content of your blog, but that "next blog" link can potentially lead your students to blogs containing content that is not appropriate for school. Removing that navigation bar (navbar) is actually a fairly simple task that anyone can do. I've outlined, with images (click to view full size), the process for you.

Disclaimer: Before you go and remove the navbar, keep in mind that some people consider removing the navigation bar to be a violation of the Blogger terms of service. That said, it's a gray area as many bloggers have removed the navbar and continue to use Blogger. You can read the TOS and make the decision for yourself.

Step One:
In your Blogger account select the "layout" tab then click the "edit html" link. If you're using a standard Blogger template you probably don't have to worry about downloading a copy of your current template, but it's not a bad idea to do it anyway. Downloading a copy of your template gives you an offline back-up in case you make a horrible mistake editing the html. If that happens just upload your back-up template and you're back in business.

Step Two:
Copy the following code and paste it directly below the "Blogger Template Style" section in the html. (see the screen capture to locate the proper placement)
#navbar-iframe {
display: none !important;
}

Step Three:
Preview the template to make sure you blog displays correctly without the navbar. If it does, click save and you're done.

Last week Wesley Fryer wrote about the importance of enabling comment moderation on student blogs. In that post he showed readers how to enable comment moderation on Blogger blogs. This post was inspired by Wesley's post.

Much of what I've learned about customizing Blogger templates has come from Blogger Buster.

Something a lot of Blogger users aren't aware of is that for just $10/year you can have your own custom domain for your blog. For that $10 not only do you get to drop the .blogspot on your url you get access to all of the Google Apps like custom branded email. You can learn more about that option in this video created by Google.

The Errors of Television Science

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:43:00 +0000

Last night I wrote a post about teaching forensic science through CSI Web Adventures. Those web adventures contain accurate science facts. However, the television show - as one of my colleagues often points out - often uses inaccurate science. This morning on Open Culture I saw this video from the Fox Sports Network's television show Sports Science. I had heard some of the "facts" from this episode mentioned by one of football experts on ESPN last week, but this morning was the first time I watched the Sports Science show.

I can't speak to the accuracy of the football science in the video, but as someone who trained with members of the 1996 and 2000 Olympic archery teams I can tell you that the archery references are completely inaccurate. In Olympic competition arrows are shot 70 meters (or 229.7 feet) not 20 yards (or sixty feet) as mentioned in the video. In the video they also use stock imagery of archery equipment which is not Olympic-style equipment.

Applications for Education
CSI and the Sports Science video prove what we already know, don't trust everything you see on television. As I was watching the video above I couldn't help but think that a lesson plan could be developed using by using a MythBusters approach to television or Internet videos. Select a television episode or video and have students fact check the "science" presented in the episode.

CSI Web Adventures - Lessons in Forensic Science

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:23:00 +0000

Rice University has partnered with CBS, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and the National Science Foundation to produce educational web adventures based on the CSI television series. The web adventures are designed to teach students the process of forensic investigation and problem solving. There are three cases or levels to the CSI web adventures. Unlike a lot of educational games, the CSI Web Adventures are created with the highest quality graphics and navigational features.

Applications for Education
The CSI Web Adventures are great, educational activities for middle school and high school science students. The CSI Web Adventures are also useful for teaching a research and investigation process that can be useful in almost any content area in which students complete research assignments. The CSI Web Adventures teach students to pay attention to details and examine all of the available evidence before reaching a conclusion.

Week in Review - Most Popular Items

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:34:00 +0000

Someone recently asked me why I write a week in review post every week. The answer is simple, a lot of teachers don't have enough time to keep up with their RSS readers or emails during the week and end up clicking "mark all as read." This post gives those teachers a chance to find new material with just one click. This was never more clear than when earlier this week one of my colleagues, Mike Morrell, (who should be on Twitter by the way) told me that he saw something in the week in review that he missed during the week.

I usually like to post an update on the number of subscribers to Free Technology for Teachers, but FeedBurner has been reporting very wacky numbers for the last ten days. If anyone can figure out why, please let me know. That said, more people became fans of Free Technology for Teachers on Facebook this week. That group is now over approaching 1800. Thank you to everyone that has become a fan. As always, thank you to everyone that has shared this blog with your friends and colleagues.

Here are the seven most popular items of the last week:
1. How to Publish a Quiz Using Google Docs
2. View WWII Imagery in Google Earth
3. Mark Your Calendars - Google Apps Webinar
4. Win a "21st Century Classroom"
5. The History and the Purpose of the US Census
6. Math Run - A Fun Game for Practicing Math Skills
7. How to Make Placemarks and Tours in Google Earth

If you're new to Free Technology for Teachers, welcome, I'm glad you've found this blog. If you like what you see in the links above, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS or email.
To subscribe via RSS, please click here.
To subscribe via email, please click here.

You might also want to consider joining nearly 1800 others in becoming a fan on Facebook.

The Volcanoes of Yellowstone

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:36:00 +0000

The USGS in partnership with the University of Utah produces the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory records and publishes data about volcanic activity in Yellowstone National Park. Much of the material on the site is very scientific in nature, but the Observatory website does offer some educational materials accessible to the non-scientist. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory offers three videos about the volcanoes of Yellowstone. The Observatory also offers photographic tours of Yellowstone.

Some other good resources for learning about Yellowstone National Park can be found in Google Earth. Turn on the National Geographic and Streetview layers to some excellent images from within the park.

Applications for Education
Yellowstone National Park is known for its natural wonders. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory provides some resources for high school science teachers to use in teaching about the geology of Yellowstone.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
Tour Mount Redoubt in Google Earth
Forces of Nature - Earth Science Resources
Five Resources for Teaching About Earthquakes

Word It Out - Like Wordle With More Options

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:24:00 +0000

Wordle is great for quickly creating word clouds from chunks of text. Last week I used Wordle to make a word cloud of President Obama's State of Union Address. The complaint that some people have about Wordle is that it doesn't offer much in the way of customization options. That's where Word It Out shines.

Word It Out creates word clouds out of any text that you paste into the word cloud generator. Once the word cloud is created you can customize the size and color scheme of the cloud. You can also customize the font used in your word cloud. The feature of Word It Out that I like the best is that you can choose to have Word It Out ignore any word or words you choose. Ignoring words keeps them out of the word cloud.

Word clouds created using Word It Out can be shared publicly by using the embed code provided by Word It Out.

Applications for Education
Just as with Wordle, Word It Out can be a good resource for students to use to quickly identify the words used most frequently in a text. Create a word cloud and have students discuss why certain words were used frequently by an author.

A Maths Dictionary for Kids - Updated for 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:43:00 +0000

I've written about Jenny Eather's A Maths Dictionary for Kids in the past. Last night I learned that A Maths Dictionary for Kids has been updated for 2010 to include more terms, definitions, and visual aids than ever before. A Maths Dictionary for Kids provides simple and clear definitions of math terms. Each definition includes a small diagram or simple activity to illustrate the term's definition. A Maths Dictionary for Kids does not have a search option, but it doesn't need one as all definitions appear alphabetically just like in a physical dictionary. Below you will see how the definition for least common denominator is explained.

Applications for Education
A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for students when they are working on homework assignments or individual in-class assignments. The visual clues provided by in the dictionary are useful for students who struggle to visualize the meaning of a math term. An activity that math teachers could do with student related to A Maths Dictionary for Kids would be to have students review a few selected terms then create their own visual depiction of math terms to display in the classroom or online.

Wanted! A Few Good Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:06:00 +0000

Every year for the last seven years, during my school's February vacation, I go on an ice fishing trip to Moosehead Lake near Greenville, Maine. During those four days I completely unplug from the Internet. Last year during that time I ran nine awesome posts from nine awesome guest bloggers. This year I would like to give the same opportunity to some more people on the dates of February 14, 15, 16, and 17.

I cannot offer you money for guest posting, but I can offer you traffic back to your blog. By including a bio and link to their blogs some of the people that guest posted last year are still reporting significant traffic coming to them through the posts they wrote on Free Technology for Teachers. In case you're wondering how many people could read your guest post, there are currently more than 17,000 subscribers to Free Technology for Teachers (that's before FeedBurner stats went wacky last week). And just as I did last year, I'll also offer to guest post on your blog in return.

Last year when I put out the call for guest bloggers I was overwhelmed with emails. So this year, I smartened-up and put together a contact form for people who are interested in writing a guest post for Free Technology for Teachers. Before you fill out the form please keep a few things in mind.
1. I'm looking for classroom teachers and school administrators willing to share their stories, good or bad, about using technology in their classrooms. Share with the audience how you're using technology in your classrooms.
2. Even if I've written about your favorite resource numerous times (Google Earth for example), I'm still interested in hearing about how you're using that resource with your students.
3. No link list posts. The guest posts are about stories of using technology.
4. No commercial posts by PR people.
5. Last year I was not able to accomdate everyone that wanted to guest post. A few of those people that I had to turn away last year will be given the opportunity this year. That said, I'm looking for about twelve people. Please do not be offended if you're not chosen.
6. This form will be live until 7am Monday morning on the east coast. I will reply to everyone by Tuesday morning.

Update: as of 7:15am 2/8/10 fifty-two people responded. I am now going through the list and will contact everyone by tomorrow morning.

Explore the Ocean in Your Web Browser

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Earlier this week Google announced the addition to Google Earth of some significantly improved ocean imagery. Today, Google announced that you can view much of the new imagery through the Google Earth Browser Plug-in. Visit the Google Earth Ocean Showcase to tour the new underwater imagery. Some of the tours you can take include shipwrecks, popular scuba diving locations, and the Great Lakes.

Applications for Education
The list of educational uses for Google Earth seems to be without end. The new Google Earth Ocean Showcase has many possible classroom uses including lessons in geology, marine science, and history. For example, tour the shipwrecks and discuss with your students the effects of salt water on various materials. Or tour the shipwrecks and have your students research when and why these ships sunk.
Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
TED Talk - Underwater Astonishments
Virtual 3D Tours of the Winter Olympics
How to Make Placemarks and Tours in Google Earth

A&E Biography for Kids - Frederick Douglass

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Last week I mentioned that Hulu offers a good assortment of videos and video widgets that appeal to history teachers. In last week's post I highlighted the NBC News Time Capsule. Today, I want to share the A&E Biography Widget. The video that drew me to this widget was the A&E Biography for Kids episode about Frederick Douglass. (Choose the "most popular" option from the widget drop-down menu to see the Frederick Douglass video).

Applications for Education
In my school district the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is taught in both history and literature classes. The A&E Biography of Frederick Douglass could be used as an introductory material or as recap material.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
NBC News Time Capsule
11 Video Clips on the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
30+ Alternatives to YouTube

View WWII Imagery in Google Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:06:00 +0000

Since the release of Google Earth 5.0, Google has steadily added more and more historical imagery. Today, Google announced the addition of historical imagery from WWII. The new layer of imagery features aerial imagery of 35 European cities bombed during WWII. Among these cities Warsaw, Lyon, Naples, and Stuttgart. To view this imagery and compare it to modern imagery, locate a city in Google Earth then use the timeline slider to view the historical imagery.

Click the screen capture below to read the directions (in full size) for accessing the historical imagery.

For more information about Google Earth's historical imagery, watch the following video.

Applications for Education
As a history teacher I love using Google Earth for creating and sharing tours of military campaigns. The new WWII historical imagery for Google Earth will be useful for creating WWII tours that have imagery reflective of the time period.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
How to Make Placemarks and Tours in Google Earth
Google Earth Across the Curriculum
Google Maps for More than Social Studies

Exploring Art Through Geography

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:15:00 +0000

Geo Coded Art is a collection of landscape, seascape, and cityscape paintings. The collection can be browsed by artist, by painting title, or by location. No matter how you browse, once you've found a painting, click on it to view it on a Google Map or Bing Map. Once you're on the map you can browse for other paintings created in the same region.

Applications for Education
Geo Coded Art could be a great resource for teachers who would like to combine a geography and or history lesson with an art lesson.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
Online Art Education - Smithsonian Art Museum
Blogs for Art Teachers
Kodak Lesson Plans

TED Talk - Underwater Astonishments

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:31:00 +0000

In this short TED Talk David Gallo shows off some marvelous adaptations fish, squid, octopuses to their underwater environments. The video may be of particular interest to teachers of marine biology or anyone trying to show students examples of animals adapting to their environments.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
15 TED Talks to Watch Before 2010
Put TED Talks on Your Desktop
Teaching With TED Talks

Math Run - A Fun Game for Practicing Math Skills

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:34:00 +0000

Math Run is a simple and fun game for practicing math skills. Math Run presents players with a scrolling series of mathematics problems. The players respond to each problem by using the right and left arrow keys on their keyboards. If a problem is displayed with its correct answer press the left arrow and if the wrong answer is displayed press the right arrow. The game begins with simple addition problems and gets progressively more difficult as players advance through the levels.

Applications for Education
Some people deride games like Math Run as being simplistic "drill and kill" and activities. But as Kelly Tenkely wrote earlier today, there is still some room for these type of activities for helping students retain basic information. A game like Math Run is one way for students to practice basic math skills while perhaps enjoying the process.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
35+ Educational Games and Games Resources
25 More Educational Games and Games Builders