Are there Right and Wrong Ways of Using Gizmos?
Absolutely! While there are a variety of ways to use Gizmos in class and with your students, keep in mind best practices. Consider pairing teaching strategies and techniques such as Kagan, Bloom’s taxonomy higher order questioning, cooperative groups, etc. when using Gizmos during classroom instruction. To help you establish healthy uses for Gizmos, take a moment to download the graphic organizer below:
Download Teacher Student Appropriate / Inappropriate uses of Gizmos
Whole Class Instruction with a Wireless Mouse
You do not need a class set of laptops, desktops or iPads or even a smart board to implement Gizmos into your instruction! All you need is your laptop, a projector, a blank space in the classroom to project the Gizmo and a wireless mouse. A wireless mouse allows each student in the audience to interact with the Gizmo while you are a guide on the side and in full control of what is being viewed on the wall.
Have Students make a Zine!
A Zine is a fun and different way for students to record their answers as opposed to the Student Exploration sheet. Check out the link below on how to make a Zine!
http://www.rookiemag.com/2012/05/how-to-make-a-zine/
Gizmos and Interactive Notebooks
Consider having your students create interactive notebooks for their Gizmos work. On the left side, they can draw graphs, diagrams, data tables, etc. On the right side, they can record all their answers to the questions in the Student Exploration sheet. This strategy can save paper (you do not have to print the Student Exploration sheets), allows students to keep all their Gizmos work organized which makes it easier for you to grade and students record the information in an engaging way. Just stamp the notebook pages after each output (left side) and input (right side) entries.
Are you using Interactive Science Notebooks in your science classes? Be sure to check out our latest webinar Using Interactive Notebooks and Gizmos. Interactive notebooks provide a way for teachers to accommodate all different learning styles and for students to personalize the content being presented. In this webinar, we’ll show how to set up interactive notebooks, and how Gizmos come with the lecture notes, vocabulary sheets, images, bell work and discussion questions that can make the set up process easy and effective.
Converting Gizmos Lesson Materials to Google Docs
Need to easily convert Gizmos lesson materials to Google Docs with losing formatting? Doc Hub!
Instructions:
- Upload the PDF version of the Student Exploration (SE) sheet into Google
- Right click on the PDF doc and go to “Open With”
- Open with DocHub – a free PDF editor (the best and most robust editing tool in my opinion after trying with several others)
- If DocHub does not show, go to “+ Connect more apps” and connect with DocHub
- With DocHub, you can use the text tool to type in answers, there is a draw tool, insert image tool and a highlighter!
Try highlighting the questions that require answering in yellow. All questions not highlighted denote a HW assignment.
Going paperless with Gizmos
As more and more classrooms move toward becoming paper-free, the need for tools that can help teachers successfully manage that transition increases as well. Luckily, there are a variety of products out there, including ExploreLearning Gizmos that can help teachers save trees, reduce waste, and minimize clutter.
Find out how here: http://bit.ly/GopaperlesswithGizmos
Don’t Be Down with “Down Time”
We all know that students should never have “down time.” Bell to bell instruction keeps the students out of trouble and you from going insane! Here are some suggestions that utilize the Gizmos Lesson Materials:
- Use the Vocabulary sheet that each Gizmo provides in the “Lesson Materials” section. Have students make flashcards, draw pictures of the word or use the word in a sentence.
- In the Teacher Guide, there are “Discussion Questions.” Have these questions on strips of paper in an envelope. Students who finish early pull out a question and write a half page response. Offer additional credit to the Student Explorations Sheet responses.