Gizmos Take Suburban Houston!

I presented Gizmos to a group of about 25 algebra teachers in Spring ISD, Texas (just north of Houston), a couple weeks ago.  They were a fun and lively group!

We talked Gizmos and how they fit into an inquiry-based classroom.  Inquiry is a term that keeps coming up for us.  It is gaining more and more attention as an effective and research-proven teaching method, and Gizmos are a perfect tool for students to use to investigate questions raised in an inquiry lesson.

From a teaching perspective, the teachers were fans of our algebra-tiles-based Gizmos such as the Modeling One-Step Equations Gizmo.  They liked how zero pairs are represented, and also how the Gizmo illustrates adding one to both sides of an equation.

From a fun/challenge perspective, the Spring teachers got hooked on the 3D and Orthographic Views Gizmo!  This Gizmo is a one-of-a-kind, and is terrific practice for students in visualizing three-dimensional figures.  The fun and addictive challenge is this: Can you build the given figures in the fewest blocks possible?  It's easy at first … until you get 3 or 4 questions in!  (Tip: Be sure to read through the Exploration Guide.  It contains many tips about how to use the Gizmo that you probably wouldn't figure out on your own.)

Anyway, I had a great time with a fun group in Spring, Texas, and it felt like a well-used staff-development day.  Good math teaching is alive and well in Spring… and we hope Gizmos can become a bigger and bigger part of it!