ExploreLearning News

3 sets of new Lesson Materials - math Gizmos

We've released 3 more new sets of Lesson Materials to the wild:

 Conditional Statements Gizmo

Biconditional Statements Gizmo

Dividing Polynomials Using Synthetic Division Gizmo

The first two Gizmos are word-tile-based Gizmos that encourage students to think about logic, truth values, and definitions.

The third is a number-tile-based Gizmo that's designed to help algebra students see the connections between synthetic division and polynomial long division.  (They're really the same thing, if you see them side-by-side.)

As always, logged-in teachers will have access to all 4 of our Lesson Material documents (Student Exploration sheet, Exploration Sheet Answer Key, Teacher Guide, and Vocabulary sheet), available either as a Word document or as a pdf.

This brings us to 35 math Gizmos with updated Lesson Materials as part of this project. Let us know what you think, and stay tuned for more to come!

Webinar: Common Core Math Fact Fluency Assessments

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics emphasize math fact fluency as critical to student success. Both PARCC and SBAC are developing assessments that directly evaluate math fact fluency using timed, computer-based assessment instruments.

Throughout May, ExploreLearning is conducting webinars which delve into this major change in student assessment.

Attend one of our 45-minute webinars to learn more about the Common Core, math fact fluency assessments, and how you can prepare for them.

ExploreLearning Reflex wins Best K-12 Instruction Solution Award

We're very pleased to announce that our other product, Reflex, has won a SIIA CODiE Award for Best K-12 Instructional Solution! This award honors the best overall education technology solution for curriculum and content for students in K-12 learning environments.

Gizmos won the same award in 2009, and this year's award marks ExploreLearning's 5th CODiE win. The CODiE Awards recognize leaders and innovators across the software, digital content and education technology industries. We are honored to be included among these leaders.

The SIIA CODiE Awards website has a list of all the 2012 Award Winners. 

Read the full press release on our parent company's website.  

Math Gizmos - 3 new sets of Lesson Materials

The math content team is happy to report that we've published 3 new sets of Lesson Materials!

Using Algebraic Expressions Gizmo

Finding Factors with Area Models Gizmo

Isosceles and Equilateral Triangles Gizmo

As always, logged-in teachers will have access to all 4 of our Lesson Material documents (Student Exploration sheet, Exploration Sheet Answer Key, Teacher Guide, and Vocabulary sheet), available either as a Word document (for easy editing if you like) or as a pdf (smaller file size).

It's an assortment of topics in this batch - from writing algebraic expressions, to number sense (with prime numbers and factor trees), to triangles.  We hope you'll find these useful, and will help you bring inquiry and real understanding to these topics for your students.  (It's a fun challenge to walk students through these lessons with questions rather than just telling them what they need to know. Good questions + a Gizmo can be a powerful formula for understanding rather than memorizing.  That's always what we're after.)

This brings us up to 32 math Gizmos with new Lesson Materials now, as part of our Math Update project!  Lots of outlines and drafts are in progress, so stay tuned for more updated Lesson Materials to come.

Math Gizmos: 2012 AEP Awards Finalist

ExploreLearning Gizmos have been named a finalist in the Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Awards for the 8^th year in a row. One of the largest and longest-running programs of its kind, the AEP Awards are widely recognized by educators, administrators, and parents as a mark of outstanding educational value.

Math Gizmos are a finalist for a Distinguished Achievement Award: Supplemental Resources/Mathematics.

Winners will be announced June 5^th at the AEP Awards Banquet in Washington, D.C.

See the complete list of AEP Award Finalists.

 

 

Math Gizmos - 6 new sets of Lesson Materials!

We're happy to announce that we've published 6 new sets of Lesson Materials!

Operations with Radical Expressions Gizmo

Order of Operations Gizmo

Using Algebraic Equations Gizmo

Percent of Change Gizmo

Polynomials and Linear Factors Gizmo

Rational Functions Gizmo

As always, logged-in teachers will have access to all 4 of our Lesson Material documents (Student Exploration sheet, Exploration Sheet Answer Key, Teacher Guide, and Vocabulary sheet), available either as a Word document (for easy editing if you like) or as a pdf (smaller file size).

We think you'll find some great inquiry-based lessons here, to promote true understanding of the math, and to help you and your students to get the most out of Gizmos.

This brings us up to 29 math Gizmos with new Lesson Materials now, as part of our Math Update project!

Two new science Gizmos

Have you ever wondered what happens to the food you eat? Most of us are pretty familiar with the path of the digestive system--mouth, esophagus, stomach, and so on. But what would happen if our digestive systems were designed differently? What if food went through the small intestine before the stomach? What would happen if the pancreas was attached to the large intestine? Do we really need a gallbladder?

The new Digestive System Gizmo allows students to arrange the organs and structures of the human digestive system in any way they like. By measuring how well different nutrients are digested and absorbed, students can discover for themselves the important role that each organ plays in the digestive process. Perhaps somebody can use this Gizmo to improve the design of our own digestive system!

An important skill in all areas of science and math is the ability to convert a measurement or value from one unit to another. The Unit Conversions Gizmo allows students to answer questions such as "What is the height of Mount Everest in kilometers?" or "How fast is sprinter Usain Bolt in miles per hour?" With 55 preset problems (and 12 additional randomized questions) to choose from, students will get plenty of practice converting distance, time, speed, mass, volume, and density units. This is a great review before end-of-year tests as well as an excellent way to start off next Fall.

We hope you enjoy the new Gizmos and please let us know what you think!

Gizmos are 2012 CODiE Award Finalists for Best Mathematics Instructional Solution

For the seventh straight year, ExploreLearning Gizmos have been nominated as finalists in the annual SIIA CODiE Awards — this time for Best Mathematics Instructional Solution. We are honored to be recognized in this elite group again this year.

Review the full list of 2012 CODiE Award Finalists, and visit the Gizmos Facebook page to "like" this news.

New Lesson Materials for 3 math Gizmos!

We've published new Lesson Materials for 3 math Gizmos:

Simplifying Radical Expressions - Activity A

Simplifying Trigonometric Expressions

Sum and Difference Identities for Sine and Cosine

These 3 Gizmos help students with some fairly advanced topics. Unlike most Gizmos, these are very procedure-focused rather than exploratory. We ask students to work through the steps of a problem, one-by-one, with careful feedback given for any incorrect choices. Each Gizmo will always start with the same 2 problems (which are addressed specifically in the Lesson Materials), and then are randomized after that, to allow for nearly unlimited practice.

As usual, each set of updated Lesson Materials includes 4 documents (Student Exploration sheet, SE Answer Key, Teacher Guide, and Vocabulary sheet), all of which are available as a .doc or a .pdf.  (Note: You will need to be logged in to see all the documents.) These replace the older html Exploration Guides.

We're now up to 23 math Gizmos that have updated Lesson Materials (63 total, if you include the purple "elementary" math Gizmos which already had them). We also have plenty more "works in progress" going on in the background.

Enjoy! And stay tuned for more in the coming weeks and months.

Expert Corner: Pi Day

Dan Moriarty is a curriculum writer and editor for ExploreLearning, and our chief "demo movie" maker for Gizmos and Reflex. He holds a Master's degree from the University of Virginia in secondary math education, and he taught high school math before joining ExploreLearning.

Well, March 14 is nearly upon us again. You can refer to March 14 as “3-14” if you’re into shorthand. And of course that makes us mathy types think about π (“pi”), which equals about 3.1415926535…, or if you are okay with rounding, just 3.14.

Of course Pi Day isn't just for the math crowd, since this irrational number plays a big role in many science lessons as well. If you’d like to celebrate Pi Day with your students, Gizmos can help.

Basically, the number π shows up whenever you want to measure something circular. Or more generally, whenever you measure anything involving or derived from circles; such as cylinders or sine waves. So if your students are not familiar with π yet, just start by showing them a circle. It could be a plate or a jar-lid or anything else that is basically flat and circular. Review these questions with them:

- What is the diameter of a circle? (Distance across the circle.)

- What is the circumference? (Distance around the circle.)

- And then the kicker... how many diameters would it take to exactly cover the circumference?

The answer to that last question is of course π — thus the formula C = πd — but if students have never seen this before, it could be pretty surprising. The Circles: Circumference and Area Gizmo allows students to explore this relationship quite nicely. For further extension, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics offers a nice lesson plan around this sort of exploration with real objects.

If your students already are familiar with π but you want to apply it to some real-world use cases, we have some Gizmos for that as well.

The Measuring Trees Gizmo gives students a chance to learn about tree rings, as well as delving into an ecology lesson. The Gizmo also allows students to measure a tree's diameter (which is pretty tough in real-life without cutting the tree down!) and its circumference. This is another place that students can discover and use the C = πd formula in context.

Finally, one of our newest Gizmos is well-suited for Pi Day. The Measuring Volume Gizmo allows students to find the volume of liquids and solids. They can determine the volume of some solid 3-dimensional figures using formulas. They will discover that the formulas for the volume of a sphere and of a cylinder, since they are circular, involve π. In addition, they'll use the "submerge it in water" technique for finding the volume of irregularly shaped objects.

So, we hope that Gizmos can find a place in your Pi Day celebrations on March 14! And as always, if you celebrate with Gizmos, please do so responsibly. : )