understand how moving a gaming wand can change the effects on the screen. Researchers who developing programs in mathematics use embodied design and gaming principles to help students create and manipulate mathematical models. At the Embodied Design Research Laboratory, researchers created a game in which fifth-graders learn ratios by holding tennis balls in the air. When the tennis balls are held at a 1:2 ratio, the screen turns green. Another embodied-design area related to programming is digital manipulatives. Some students feel weak in mathematics because it is not connected to the physical world, and digital manipulatives are being created to strengthen the connection between mathematics and the physical world. When students use a touchscreen with their fingers, they use gestures to create (or use) virtual objects in the program. Computers can model environments where the students imagine their bodies to be, and the mind behaves as it would on a playground. Cell phones, pads and computers provide mathematically-enhanced models everywhere, exploring everyday experiences and the curriculum in more-abstract ways. References Mathematics education