» View a video on how Motion Math works

LDT students Gabriel Adauto, Jacob Klein, and Amrita Thakur reached the final round of the Cooney Center Prizes for Innovation in Children's Learning for their project, Motion Math, a math skills game that utilizes a mobile device's tilt function.

Aimed at fifth graders, Motion Math teaches fractions by having players aim a bouncing ball containing a fraction to its correct position on a number line. The game uses the iPhone's sensitive accelerometer, motivating the player to practice estimating a fraction's placement on the line within a limited number of ball bounces.

The Stanford team participated in a pitch competition before a panel of judges for the $50,000 prize towards prototype development in the Mobile Learning category. The distinguished judges included Warren Buckleitner, editor of Children's Technology Review; Alan Gershenfeld, president and CEO of E-Line Ventures; Gary E. Knell, president and CEO of Sesame Workshop; Laird Malamed, senior vice president of Activision Blizzard; and Liz Perle, editor-in-chief of Common Sense Media.

The Cooney Center Prizes for Innovation in Children's Learning is an educational media innovation competition launched by The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop this year. Results of the inaugural competition were announced on June 16 by Aneesh Chopra, White House Chief Technology Officer, and Gary E. Knell, President and CEO, Sesame Workshop at the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) Games and Learning Summit held at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles. Project NOAH (Networked Organisms and Habitats) was selected as the winner in the Breakthroughs in Mobile Learning category.

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop is an independent, non-profit research center that fosters innovation in children's learning through digital media. The Cooney Center conducts and supports research, creates educational models and interactive media properties and builds cross-sector partnerships. The center is named for Sesame Workshop's founder, who revolutionized television with the creation of Sesame Street.