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Gapminder is great for filtering and analyzing data. For instance, students can manipulate country data including population, gdp, and life expectancy. They can then add variables or filter out factors. An historical analysis can also be analyzed by reviewing changes in these data sets over the last hundred years or more.

(Please note the link to a Free Demo download on the right hand side of the linked page) Orwell is an episodic indie game that puts players in the role of an analyst working for a fictional surveillance state in the wake of a bomb explosion in a public square. Players are tasked with scouring news sites, social networking sites, message boards, blogs, text chats, and the like for clues as to the identity of the bomber and possible motivations for the bombing. Potentially relevant information is highlighted, but it is up to the player to decide whether each piece of information is worthy of inclusion in a report to be passed up the chain of command. The items selected create the narrative that law enforcement will act upon, but the player has no say as to what actions are taken beyond selecting what to include in the accumulated data. The story unfolds through the narrative that player-selected data constructs and the actions that result. Mistakes can result in the detention or prosecution of innocents. This forces the player to exercise research and critical thinking skills, particularly evaluating data as relevant or irrelevant, reading between the lines, and maintaining awareness of how each piece of information contributes to an overall narrative. Embedded in all of this is a clever critique of the surveillance apparatus and how it relates to our conceptions of freedom, safety, and privacy-a critique, I would argue, worthy of the game's name. I selected Orwell for this critical thinking post because it is essentially a gamified exercise in research, or, put another way, research with training-wheels. All of the pieces of data that the user can include are presented in context, and players must evaluate how a clue relates to both its context and to the investigation as a whole in order to make useful selections. That kind of consideration is essentially what we are doing as we research material for inclusion in an academic paper, and so I believe the game doe

Always trying to work smarter, I make Google Forms do the data analysis for me. By creating an adaptive form, I am able to quickly, efficiently, and impressively record student data. The results are easily translatable into flexible grouping options, formative instruction materials, and of course, good old fashioned tests. Combine Forms with the output google spreadsheet, with conditional formatting, and Flubaroo, and you're working smarter than you've ever done before!

Plickers is a tool that teachers can use to assess their students quickly and in real-time without the need for students to have a device. As long as teachers have a device with the Plickers app downloaded, they can scan their students Plickers card to collect data in a matter of seconds!

A platform for real-time formative assessments + a FREE next-generation student response system.

Short Description: Formative is a free, online tool which allows teachers to create a variety of assessments, collect data, and provide feedback to students in real time. In setting up an assessment, teachers may create their own material or upload documents, images, and YouTube videos (to name a few) to which they may add questions. Such questions can include multiple choice selections, True/False, short responses, and "Show Your Work", the latter two requiring manual grading/correction. After all responses are submitted, the teacher may then receive a summary of class scores and export that data to a spreadsheet. Furthermore, the feature of tagging certain skill sets to an assessment enables a teacher to track each student's progress with a particular subject. Examples of Uses: Formative can be used for nearly any subject or topic. Throughout a unit, a teacher could create multiple assessments to evaluate their class's understanding of the material. In a Social Studies unit on the Founding Fathers for instance, a teacher could upload photos of the different Founding Fathers and ask for an identification and brief description. For another question, they could upload a map of the United States and ask students to manually draw in where certain historical events took place. Also, the teacher could upload portions of the Declaration of Independence and/or the Constitution and have students respond to questions posed regarding those documents.

The QR, or "Quick Response" code, is much like barcode, except that it can hold more data. With one quick scan using a QR code reader app (most of which are free) the "matrix image," as Edutopia's Monica Burns calls it, can lead you to a specific place on the web.

Software developer Mike Matas demos the first full-length interactive book for the iPad - with clever, swipeable video and graphics and some very cool data visualizations to play with. The book is "Our Choice," Al Gore's sequel to "An Inconvenient Truth."

Short Description: economics-games.com allows students to run simulations and make decisions as a market participant. A student may elect to play a solo game or a multi-player game, selecting from a variety of economic topics such as fixed costs, monopoly, competition, and prisoner's dilemma (to name only a few). Depending on the game, students are initially presented with certain data/information and must submit decisions based on what is provided. Once the student (or each player) makes a decision, the student is directed to a results page which can then be discussed with the teacher and/or as a class. Example of Uses: As an aspiring high school Social Studies teacher with a background in Economics, this seems like a great tool to use to supplement the introduction of economic/business terms and concepts. In the classroom, students can learn definitions and principles (i.e., the "Who", "What", "Where", "When"); in the simulations/games, students experience and demonstrate the practical application of such terms to understand the "How" and "Why". In this context, critical thinking skills are used to assess the information provided and arrive at a well-reasoned decision. Such skills are further developed as the students and teacher engage in a discussion about the rationale and impact of the choices of the student(s), without, of course, the pressure of real world economic consequences. With an often dry topic as Economics, this tech tool also seems like an effective way to keep a class interested and engaged with material. Perhaps bonus points could be offered to students who yield good results in their simulation and can support their decision-making with strong arguments. The obvious limitation is that this particular tech tool is designed for one subject. However, similar simulations and educational role-playing games exist for other content areas. In any case, the simulation or game should present information to the s

As a teacher think of YouTube as the modern day TV channel. Recently YouTube partneded with over 30 TV networks. You are able to search all categories of learning from subject matter experts to "do it yourself" or cooking instructions. As a free resource, search for data, facts, and other homework assignments across this vast network. You can even create your own channel for your classroom with private access to uploaded videos.

_Description:_ Tracker allows you to extract motion data from a video, so by simply taking a video of a classroom demonstration, students can clearly visualize concepts like acceleration, parabolic motion, periodic/pendulum motion, and momentum conversation in collisions. Tacker makes it much easier to communicate counter-intuitive concepts by enabling students to slow down and quantify the motion of objects in videos. _Examples of uses:_ * Demonstrating constant acceleration due to gravity * Confirming conservation of momentum in elastic collisions * Showing that projectile motion is parabolic