Donna Abbruzzese: Gizmo Educator of the Month

Donna Abbruzzese is an eighth grade science teacher at Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland, New York. She teaches with Gizmos in virtually every one of her class units.

Donna uses Gizmos with her eighth graders for everything from exploring characteristics of subatomic particles with Element Builder Gizmo to studying genetics and heredity with Mouse Genetics (Two Traits).

Donna makes good use of the Lesson Materials provided with each Gizmo. She frequently customizes the Student Exploration Sheets to students' abilities. Sometimes she has students load a Gizmo and an Exploration Sheet in two adjacent windows, and complete it as they work through the Gizmo. Students then upload completed assignments to her in electronic format.

“Using the exploration guides, I find that Gizmos are easily adapted and customized for my students. Differentiation is seamless as each guide is separated into different activities, each building on the concept development and understanding. Students are able to follow the guides with ease and respond well to the questions posed.”

Take a look at the wealth of contributions Donna has made to the ExploreLearning Community. From her insightful Gizmo Recommendations to her resourceful user Contributed Lesson Materials, Donna provides lots of ideas for other teachers on ways to incorporate Gizmos into effective science teaching.