http://play.ccssgames.com/

KCP Technologies recently launched a new web application that embeds simple games in a data analysis environment.

As students play Data Games, they generate data that they must analyze to win the games. Supporting materials include a student worksheet; teacher guidelines that correlate the activity to the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM); and videos that introduce game play and that explain the mathematics and pedagogy.

KCP Technologies developed The Geometer's Sketchpad® over twenty years ago, followed by Fathom® Dynamic Data and TinkerPlots® Dynamic Data Exploration. The most recent versions of each of those educational software packages continues to rack up awards from the ComputED Learning Center, EdTech Digest, and Technology & Learning, among others. They created Data Games through a collaboration with the Scientific Research Reasoning Institute (SRRI) at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

http://blossoms.mit.edu/news/stories/
overview_mit_blossoms_%E2%80%9C
back_school%E2%80%9D_lesson_contest

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) invites English-speaking teachers to submit their lesson designs for a new BLOSSOMS lesson in mathematics, science or engineering.

BLOSSOMS stands for Blended Learning Science or Math Studies. The videos in its open repository of interactive modules are not long lectures to be watched passively, but rather clips that engage teachers in a "teaching duet" with a partner whose own classroom might be a world away.

Since we first featured BLOSSOMS, its partner institutions have grown to represent fifteen different government agencies and universities from Jordan, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. As of this writing, they have collaborated to produce 86 videos, including 28 dedicated to math — some in Urdu or Arabic:

http://blossoms.mit.edu/videos?
field_topic_value_many_to_one=1&
term_node_tid_depth=All

Teachers who win the lesson contest earn an all-expenses-paid trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to film their lessons during either their winter or spring vacation.

Submit your idea for a teaching duet video before the deadline of Monday, 3 December. Start by downloading this PDF of the concept template:

http://blossoms-live.mit.edu/sites/default/files/
Concept_Template_English.pdf

http://www.reelmath.org/

This year's Reel Math Challenge has begun!

Open to any US resident in grades six through eight, the contest challenges students to create a video that uses a real-world application to teach the math concept in a problem of their choosing from the 2012-13 MATHCOUNTS School Handbook, freely available for download here:

http://www.reelmath.org/download-problems

Public voting, which begins in January, will decide which videos advance through the competition. Four finalist teams will win an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2013 MATHCOUNTS National Competition, where they will present their videos. Each member of the team that creates the winning video will receive a $1,000 college scholarship. In addition, any team that enters videos in the contest becomes eligible for weekly gift card drawings.

All entries will be added to a free online library indexed to specific math concepts, difficulty levels, and Common Core Standards. Check out the more than 300 videos entered from last year, all searchable and categorized into fourteen math topics:

http://www.reelmath.org/videos

http://www.mathwarriorswebseries.com/

Last week's feature on Math Warriors contained a misstatement.

The comedic webseries has not been approved by Math for America — only screened for MfA. As an organization, MfA does not approve videos.

The Math Forum apologizes for the error.