RADFORD -- Applications designed by Gaming, Animation, Modeling and Simulations (GAMeS) Lab at Radford University were awarded second and third place honors on Saturday, June 27 at the "Learning Apps Development Challenge," sponsored by Governor Tim Kaine in Washington, DC.

The Radford University lab received a $1,000 second-place award for its application, “Freddy Fraction,” and a $500 third-place award for “Fraction Factory.”  "Freddy Fraction," challenges students to demonstrate their knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages as they help an alien find his lost spaceship and "Fraction Factory" features a conveyor belt bearing fractions which must be placed in correct sequence at the top of the screen. Both applications, Freddy Fraction and Fraction Factory, are available online at the Apple App Store as free downloads.

The winning applications were announced by Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia I. Wright and federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra at the meeting of Virginia school division technology directors held in conjunction with the National Educational Computing Conference.

"These applications address key mathematics content in the Standards of Learning and represent a first step in tapping the potential of mobile wireless communications devices to support instruction and raise achievement," said Dr. Wright.

The application design competition was initiated by Governor Kaine on April 7 to explore the potential of wireless technology to supplement classroom instruction and raise student achievement.

The RU GAMeS Lab designs interactive and immersive participatory digital curricula and studies their efficacy on student engagement and learning under the aegis of the RU College of Education and Human Development. The team of researchers and developers provide participating schools from Southwest Virginia with Standards of Learning (SOLs)-aligned products and trains masters level students and in-service teachers to develop their own digital curricula.