Jennifer Mulhall has been teaching for 10 years, the last four at West Gate Elementary School in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She’s been using Gizmos since she first learned about them about seven years ago in a Professional Learning Community (PLC).
Mulhall uses Gizmos mainly for math, particularly with students who are on modified IEPs. She says, “When I show them how to use the program, they are immediately interested in learning. I find they can be independent and engaged the entire time. Using Gizmos has been a game-changer for math instruction. My modified students work in small groups, while the rest of the class is working on activities quietly. My modified students enjoy learning at their own pace and particularly like the manipulatives.
“Often students who are modified several grade levels below the others feel segregated because they are doing ‘different’ or ‘easier’ math than everyone else,” Mulhall continues. “Gizmos give them an opportunity to feel independent and find success. Searching for specific expectations is very easy and I can pinpoint exactly what I need my students to accomplish without taking up a lot of my own time.
“This past year I had a student so engaged that I often had to remind him that it was recess and he needed to shut the program down and go outside,” she enthuses. “I use Gizmos daily and honestly don’t know what I would do without it!”
ExploreLearning offers great opportunities for professional development from workshops, added lesson materials from the community and now On-Demand professional development videos for you to review and access at your leisure.
To access the English PD On-Demand please click HERE.
To access the French PD On-Demand please click below. Click HERE For a complete list of Gizmos with ExploreLearning lesson materials translated into French.
Do you love Gizmos but would like to learn more about the ExploreLearning website? Maybe about how to integrate Gizmos more effectively into your math and/or science lesson plans? Are you looking to participate in more professional development workshops this academic school year? Would you like to broaden your Gizmos knowledge? ExploreLearning offers a wide range Gizmos workshops for you to select from which can be delivered in a variety of ways.
We would like to hear your opinions and needs on Gizmos professional development in Ontario.
Click HERE to share your professional development requests with Saarah Broadbent your Implementation Coordinator in Ontario.
To register for a complimentary ExploreLearning Gizmos webinar please click HERE.
Date
Time
Introduction To Gizmos-Thursday, September 5th
3pm
Expanding the Gizmos Experience-Thursday, September 12th
3pm
New Gizmos-Wednesday, September 18th
3pm
STEM Cases-Monday, September 23rd
4pm
Experiential learning and Gizmos-Tuesday, October 1st
3pm
eLearning and Gizmos-Wednesday, October 9th
3pm
Girls in STEM-Thursday, October 24th
4pm
Introduction to Gizmos-Monday, November 4th
4pm
Gizmos and Productive Struggle-Tuesday, November 19th
3pm
Flipped Classroom and Gizmos-Wednesday, November 27th
3pm
Gizmos and STEM 2067-Thursday, December 5th
4pm
Introduction to Gizmos-New to Gizmos? Here’s the best way to start strong
This workshops is designed to prepare teachers to use Gizmos immediately in their classrooms. The course introduces the major features and functions of the ExploreLearning website and shows teachers how Gizmos can look in their classrooms. In the workshop, an experienced ExploreLearning instructor models a lesson with Gizmos so that participants can identify and deconstruct best teaching practices. Teachers use this information to begin planning exemplary lessons with Gizmos for their students.
Expanding the Gizmos Experience-Find out all the ways Gizmos can be used in a lesson
Expanding the Gizmos Experience helps teachers develop a deeper understanding of how to integrate Gizmos into their curriculum, and effective uses of whole group and small group instruction. The course shows teachers how to get the most from the Gizmo Lesson Materials by making these intentional instructional decisions. In the workshop, the instructor models best practices for using Gizmos in a whole class setting as well as a small group setting. Teachers work individually or in small groups to integrate best teaching practices with Gizmos into their curriculum.
Gizmos Girls in STEM
The Gizmos Girls in STEM workshop guides teachers through an understanding of how Gizmos supports girls in STEM. Teachers will be able to test the waters of STEM with Girls in their classroom upon completion of this workshops.
Gizmos and Productive Struggle
This workshop guides educators through the use of Gizmos with productive struggle in the math classroom. Teachers will learn about productive struggle and how Gizmos supports the teaching technique.
Experiential Learning and Gizmos
The Experiential Learning and Gizmos workshop guides educators through the process of using ExploreLearning Gizmos as Experiential Learning in their lessons.
eLearning and Gizmos
The eLearning and Gizmos workshop helps teachers in their planning and delivering of eLearning courses with the use of Gizmos. This workshop will show educators how to plan eLearning lessons for their online courses and how to effectively use assessment tools available through Gizmos for formative and summative assessment of students abilities.
Flipped Classroom
Educators will learn about the flipped classroom teaching technique and how Gizmos supports teachers in this process.
New Gizmos
Educators will be introduced to Gizmos that are new to the ExploreLearning website and Gizmos library.
STEM Casses
Educators will learn about the ExploreLearning STEM cases and how to effectively utilize them in their classrooms.
The ExploreLearning Gizmos lesson materials are great tools for student learning and Gizmos integration lesson planning. The student exploration sheets provide students with activities relating to the specific content of the Gizmo; while the vocabulary document ensures that students ustilize correct terminology and the assessment questions support the retention of content aquired from the Gizmo.
The ExploreLearning teacher guide for each Gizmo is a very unique document and a great resource for educators to take advantage of. It provides a suggested outline of the Gizmos lesson, activities to do prior to the Gizmo as well as activities to extend the lesson. The teacher guide also provides great discussion questions to encourage communication within the classroom which will gives students the oppportunity to share their knowledge and thought processes while allowing the educator to catch misconceptions that may be developing. The last section provided to edcuators in the Teacher Guide is the Background information relating to the Gizmo. Having the background information relating to the Gizmo allows educators to have the content at their finger tips in order to best support their students.
Love Gizmos and want your colleagues to discover how they can change their classroom planning and student learning? Share a Gizmo list with other educators on our website, by logging in and going to your My Homepage.
Select the class tab with the Gizmo List you want to share.
Select the Manage Class drop-down menu under the class name, and choose Share Gizmo List.
Complete the pop-up form and select Share Gizmo.
You can view all of your Shared Gizmo Lists (including the newly-created list) by selecting My Gizmo Lists in the upper right of your My Homepage.
You can also share a Gizmos list with others via email and social media.
Select your name at the upper right of the page and choose Public Profile.
Select the list you want to share from the Shared Gizmo Lists on the right.
Select the email, Facebook or Twitter icon from sidebar on the right, and then follow the directions in the pop up window.
High school students now have even more opportunities to act like scientists with STEM Cases: award-winning, research-proven, interactive case studies in the Gizmos library.
Claire
STEM Cases engage students to become active learners by presenting a scenario that puts them in the role of professional scientists tasked with solving a real-world problem. For example, in Enzymes students play veterinary technicians tasked with saving a Great Dane named Claire that has lost weight despite eating normally. During each STEM Case, students learn the scientific concepts and use critical thinking and apply scientific practices as follows:
Learn the science
Collect data
Analyze and interpret data
Form a hypothesis
Test the hypothesis
Communicate findings
Real-time data
Assessments (15-25 per case) report student achievement and progress in real time as a “heatmap,” giving teachers the ability to quickly address problem areas and differentiate instruction. STEM Cases are aligned to state and NGSS standards and help prepare students for tests. Research from the University of Georgia found that replacing just three traditional classes with STEM Cases elicited significant learning gains.
Each STEM Case offers a general biology and an AP biology version. There are currently three STEM Cases available–Evolution, Enzymes, and Photosynthesis, with more coming soon.
Interested in saving time while planning your Gizmos lesson plans for your courses? Shared Gizmos lists created by other educators in QUEBEC/ONTARIO can save you time and give you ideas for how to deliver course content to your student. The shared Gizmos lists for the grade levels and subject areas you are teaching can be found on the QUEBEC/ONTARIO blog by clicking HERE or by viewing shared Gizmos Lists on your My Homepage by scrolling down to the Shared Gizmo Lists section. Please ensure you are logged into your Gizmos account.
To add the shared Gizmos list you must first select the title of the list and see the Gizmos are those that you would like to use. If you would like to add only one of the Gizmos you can select Add to Class next to the Gizmo to add it to your class, or Import Gizmos List to Classes in the top right to add all the Gizmos on the list into your class.
Teacher presets let you save a configuration of a Gizmo, then load it at any time. This makes it easy to start a Gizmo with specific variables already set. This functionality is accessible to the right above a launched Gizmo. These Gizmos currently offer the preset feature (you must be logged in to view this Gizmos list). More will be launching soon.
To create a new preset:
Modify the Gizmo until you reach the configuration you want to save.
Click the + (plus) icon on the Presets Note: If you are creating a preset for the first time, the button will read Create New Preset.
Enter a name for your preset, then click Save.
You can save multiple presets per Gizmo. To access saved presets, click the Preset button and select the preset you want to use. Once a preset is applied, the Gizmo can be manipulated as normal. To return a Gizmo to its default state, simply refresh the browser page.
To rename or delete a saved preset:
Launch the Gizmo you want to edit, then click the Presets
Find the preset you want to edit, then click the icon (three dots) to the right of the preset name.
To delete the preset, select the delete (red icon) button; to rename the preset, type in a new name and click the Rename button to save your change.
You cannot edit variables on an existing preset and save it with the same name, only rename or delete it. To make a preset with a different set of variables, create a new preset or edit and rename an existing preset.
