More great demos from BETT 2010: London-based 2Simple Software presents a brandnew creative educational tool called 2create a superstory. The piece of software allows children and teachers to create animated and interactive storybooks. Plus, superstory authors can put their story up on the internet and share it, i.e. on a school website or a class blog page. For more examples of superstories just visit the 2simpleant’s blog. Another inspirational 2Simple program is 2Do it Yourself: 2DIY lets you create your own puzzle or do things like matching pair games all the way to making your own quizzes and platform games. Just like the superstories, all 2DIY resources can be saved and shared. Cool! Click here for all postings from BETT 2010.

Game-based learning site Mangahigh.com offers free online math games for 10-16 year olds that are both playable and very challenging. According to founder and CEO Toby Rowland who launched the UK-based startup in October 2009, Mangahigh brings out the mathematician in all students who love games. Tiburon-TV’s Viktoria met the experienced internet entrepreneur (former co-founder of King.com) at BETT 2010. „We are the first company offering game based math at this level“ stresses Toby. He presents Mangahigh’s most popular title Pyramid Panic (see screenshot above) and the high school game Flower Power where kids are doing up to a hundred mathematical operations: „We believe that this is the future of mathematics. It is more effective than any worksheet you could imagine.“ Toby who is using his funds from King.com to support Mangahigh, believes 100 percent that schools are online now: „There’s a huge number of searches for math related topics on the internet. The market that we are going after are schools with very good ICT facilities which are ready to adopt this kind of technology.“ By the way, Mangahigh will soon launch the Global Maths Games League where all schools in the world are invited to compete. Check out the Mangahigh site to sign up or to play some of their demo games. Click here for all interviews from BETT 2010.

Copenhagen-based Serious Games Interactive is committed to unlocking the Educational Potential of Computer Games. Founded in 2006, the game company was born within a research institution and thrives on research. Among their game titles are the Playing History Game Series on key historical events and the Global Conflicts Game Series that zooms in on conflict zones around the world. Tiburon-TV interviewed Commercial Director Mikkel Overby at BETT 2010, where SGI won a BETT Award for "Global Conflicts: Palestine".

„We are trying to merge the commercial, educational and social game sector into one“ explains Mikkel „we want to have the learning element integrated in the games and are also building a platform for letting both the teachers and the students communicate while they engage in the game world.“ So far the company has been selling the games to primary and high schools in Scandinavia, but they now also want to move into the UK and the US Mikkel says. However, there are still challenges to face: „There is sort of a barrier to convince the teachers to try it out plus there are differences in curriculum requirements and teaching styles in all the different countries“ notes Mikkel. But the company’s track record shows that once the teachers are convinced to try it out more or less all of them are very excited.

Make sure to check back to our blog on Monday: We’ll be posting an interview with Toby Rowland, founder of Mangahigh Math Games.

GIS (geographic information system) market leader ESRI is all about collecting, analyzing and communicating geographic information. Built on the belief that geography matters and that it connects societies and influences our way of life, the R&D organization offers a new program to help schools integrate GIS in the classroom. Tiburon-TV’s Viktoria interviewed GIS in Schools Program Manager George Dailey at BETT London. „We provide everything from free web mapping services and 3D visualization tools like the ArcGIS Explorer to more ‚professional’ GIS tools. Basically a continuum of tools that people can step into whether they are elementary or university students“ explains George. He goes on to do some mapping of earthquake activity and to showcase how people are using GIS. GIS users come from all walks of life: Schools, city planners, administrators, fire fighters working with geography or agencies like the UN environment program. „GIS is great for visualization“ George says. „The key is what are people wanting to do, what are they trying to learn and what are the ways we are ready to support them. That includes curriculum materials, training, access to data and the software tools. But the tools are not as important as the question someone is trying to answer.“ Check back to our blog on Friday for an interview with Mikkel Overby from Serious Games Interactive, Winner of the BETT Award for Global Conflicts.