Mancala

Price: Free
Publisher: Xoise Solutions

Mancala is a classic game dating back to Ancient Egyptian times. It can be played with a handful of stones and a few pits in the ground but is generally put together with nicely polished pebbles and a polished wooden board. This Android version gives a good representation of Mancala, and the computer is a pretty good opponent, not easy to beat. There are both one and two player variants within the same app, so it can be played socially or alone.

This is a nice app for any course that looks at Ancient Egypt. We Social Studies teachers have a tendency to talk about kings, battles and monuments when discussing history, but this simple yet challenging game is an intriguing look at how average people lived way back then.

Convert Droid

Price: Free
Publisher: Code Thought

Convert Droid is a conversion app that will allow you to convert mass, volume, pressure and many others from one unit to the other. It's a very useful little tool because it not only converts 100 miles to the equivalent number of kilometers, but will convert it to nautical miles, cubits, and even light years. And, if you're curious, 100 miles turns out to be 1,588,000 hands, or 352,000 cubits.

The uses for this in mathematical sorts of subjects are obvious. In physics, distances is nearly always and issue, and in math at least some time is spent working with distance. However, in Bible courses (and other religious courses as well, measurements of distance are often given in obscure units and an ability to convert these easily is an asset. Even in Social Studies there may be applications, particularly in younger years where students deal with neighborhood rather than entire continents.

This looks like a very useful Android app for school, and at the price it should fit into any educator or student's budget.