Missy Graham-Allison: ExploreLearning Educator of the Month

Missy Graham-Allison teaches Biology at Durant High School in Florida's Hillsborough County Public Schools and is one of the sponsors of the school's Science Honor and Competition Club. She has degrees in Biology and Educational Leadership and has been teaching for twelve years.

Mrs. Allison has been using Gizmos for two years to create new opportunities for her students to interact with scientific concepts. She turns to such diverse Gizmos as Cell Division, Human Evolution - Skull Analysis, and Rabbit Population by Season to bring concepts to life. She gives an example:

"The Rabbit Population Gizmo helped students to see how populations can be affected by different factors. Terms like density-dependent and density-independent limiting factors, carry capacity, and population density tend to be hard concepts for them. I use this particular Gizmo to 'show' them what the terms mean. My students feel that it gives them a 'visual' on what is going on instead of just getting the information from the text or lecture notes."

She reports that many students demonstrate a comfortable comprehension of these complex scientific concepts after working with this Gizmo.

Mrs. Allison also makes good use of Gizmos Assessment Questions. She uses them for formative assessment, but also to drive parental involvement. Parents are made aware when students do poorly on the assessment questions, and this helps motivate them to get involved in their child's learning. Working on a Gizmo can be a fun and engaging way for parents to learn with their children.