ExploreLearning News : Training and Professional Development

Expert Corner: PD Options for Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards

After receiving her M.Ed. in Science Education and teaching science in middle and high school classrooms for nine years, Pam Larson began working for ExploreLearning in 2007. As a Regional Manager of Professional Development, Ms. Larson has been instrumental in designing curriculum for science and math professional development sessions, and she manages trainers working directly with teachers using ExploreLearning products.

Many schools are using their summer professional development time to address the Common Core Standards for Math (CCSS-M) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Gizmos are a great tool that teachers can use to develop the knowledge and the habits of mind of strong math and science students. The PD department atExploreLearning is offering higher-level training workshops aimed at preparing teachers for the CCSS-M and the NGSS.

Using Gizmos with the CCSS will help participants develop a deeper understanding of both the content standards and the Standards for Mathematical Practice. The Common Core – the Balance between Skills and Understanding workshop allows participants to work collaboratively and identify mathematical tasks that develop students’ capacity to meet the Standards of Mathematical Practice.

Districts can also choose from a variety of Troublesome Topics in Math workshops. Each of these is designed for a different grade band around math concepts that are difficult for students to grasp and have moved down in grade level in the new standards. The elementary workshop focuses on fractions, while the middle grades workshop explores ratios and proportions, and the high school workshop examines functions. Teachers leave with a better mastery of the content they are teaching and with specific strategies for leading students to conceptual understanding of their focus topic.

Like the Common Core workshops, using Gizmos with the NGSS is designed to help teachers make the pedagogical leaps dictated in the new science standards. The NGSS encourages teachers to teach fewer content topics, but to take students to a much deeper level of understanding than in the past. The three Troublesome Topics in Science workshops focus on refining teachers’ understanding of science content in three disciplines across all grade levels; Life Science, Earth/Space Science, and Physical Science. If teachers themselves have a strong knowledge of science topics, they will be better prepared to help students develop a deeper conceptual understanding.

As the summer and fall go on, the PD department will be developing additional higher-level offerings to support these new standards.

To learn more about bringing any of these workshops to your school or district, please contact your Account Executive.

Two math Gizmos highlighted in NCTM article

A recent article in the NCTM magazine Teaching Children Mathematics describes an activity, designed by two professors, that aims to help teachers select clear, effective technology for their classrooms. The article lists five criteria for selecting technology (National Research Council, 2001):

1. Transparency: How easily can the idea be seen through the representation?
2. Efficiency: Does the representation support efficient communication and use?
3. Generality: Does the representation apply to broad classes of objects?
4. Clarity: Is the representation unambiguous and easy to use?
5. Precision: How close is the representation to the exact value?

Based on these, the teachers selected a variety of applets to use in their classes. Among these, they chose two Gizmos that provide nice visuals to help teach number sense with the number line.

The Rounding Numbers (Number Line) Gizmo is noted for its use of "hills" on the number line to help illustrate rounding. In this Gizmo, points can be dragged onto a dynamic number line. When in "hill" mode, the points will slide to the nearest valley (the nearest 10 or 100), helping students to visualize rounding. (By the way, interesting things happen when points are exactly halfway between two valleys – like, for example, 35 when rounding to the nearest 10, or 350 when rounding to the nearest 100. Why don’t these points slide to a valley right away? Thought-provoking discussions about the "round up" convention can ensue!)

Also, the teachers chose Number Line Frog Hop (Addition and Subtraction) Gizmo, in which Fred the Frog hops along a number line to try to catch flies. If Fred hops more than 10 units, he can jump as a "single jump," "tens then ones," or "ones then tens." The latter two modes highlight the "parts" of a number (place value, essentially). In addition, as a teacher points out in the article, you can show repeated addition in this Gizmo as a bridge to multiplication.

Video -- Teaching with Gizmos: Whole Class Instruction

Recently we published a new video on our Gizmos YouTube channel: a 4-minute video demonstrating whole class instruction with Gizmos!

Take a peek into a 5th grade classroom where students are investigating the Mineral Identification Gizmo.

Watch the video above or see it on the YouTube site.

Great Gizmos training experiences

We get a lot of great feedback about our top-notch Professional Development staff. As an example, recently we got a note from an inclusion teacher in Massachusetts' Falmouth Public Schools who said this after attending a training with PD Regional Manager Betty Korte:

"Betty was just terrific and adeptly read the 'pulse' of our staff as tech-savvy and tailored an afternoon which was just perfect for my staff. She was totally knowledgeable about all aspects of the program, kept the training moving at a good pace for the audience, she was wonderfully pleasant and kept to the agenda in a timely manner."

Betty is just one of many superb trainers ready to help you improve teaching and learning in your classrooms. Our PD team brings a wide variety of training offerings to schools, from Initial Gizmo Training which helps teachers start off right with Gizmos, to targeted offerings helping teachers utilize best practices in math and science to customized support programs to sustain broad use of Gizmos over time.

Expert's Corner: The Next Level of Professional Development

Laura Chervenak has been ExploreLearning Director of Professional Development for the past year. She has taught high school science, and is the founder and former director of GOAL Digital Academy. Laura is National Board Certified in Science/Adolescence and Young Adulthood, with a B.A. in Zoology and an M.S. in Anthropology.

In the Professional Development department at ExploreLearning, our initial focus is to help teachers get the most out of Gizmos. We then want to extend those lessons and help teachers improve their overall teaching and learning in math and science.

Effective professional development is a continuing process that includes workshops for learning information, regular coaching for the acquisition of skills, and on-demand information for just-in-time training.  At ExploreLearning, we offer Initial Gizmo Training to get teachers started, a variety of classroom coaching services to build teachers' confidence in using Gizmos in their classroom, and a broad array of Help Center videos to address teachers' specific questions about Gizmos and the ExploreLearning.com website.

Now we are extending our offerings beyond those great resources. We are very excited to announce the launch of three new higher-level workshops, which focus on helping teachers develop and enhance teaching methodologies in math and science. 

In “Teaching for Understanding in Math,” teachers learn to use a program of discourse and writing to help students reason mathematically and develop a deeper understanding of concepts. 

“Teaching with the 5E Model in Science” shows teachers how to combine hands-on activities with Gizmos within the 5E instructional model to enhance student understanding. 

Inquiry instruction is the focus of “Teaching Scientific Inquiry with Gizmos,” where teachers help students manipulate independent variables and collect and analyze data around authentic scientific questions.

	Some of the expert trainers on the ExploreLearning Professional Development Team.

We also know that professional development focused on technology integration is most successful when communities of practice are established, administrative support is provided and relevance to the curriculum is demonstrated.  We can address these needs by establishing a Gizmo Mentor program within a school or district, working with science and math supervisors and coaches to provide targeted support, and aligning local curriculum pacing guides with appropriate Gizmos.

Gizmos are a tremendously versatile and powerful technology tool to add to a teacher's toolkit of instructional options.  We want to work with you to develop a customized program of professional development designed to harness the power of Gizmos in your classrooms. An effective program ranges from Initial Gizmo Training all the way through higher-level workshops on teaching methodologies proven to improve student learning.

A Great Year for Gizmos

We stepped back to look at what we had accomplished in 2010, and we found it was a banner year for Gizmos!

Last year our dedicated Professional Development staff trained almost 14,000 teachers. They either took part in one of our recommended initial training sessions or helped build their ability to integrate Gizmos into their curriculum. These customized programs of support now include onsite consultations, curriculum alignment assistance, and project management services. Visit our Training page for more information. 

Gizmos are now helping to improve instruction in classrooms all over the world. We are in all 50 U.S. states and more than thirty other countries. We hope 2011 will be even better!

Gizmo demo movies are live!

Who says that all the blockbuster summertime movie action is only taking place on the big screen?

We're happy to announce that all 80 Gizmos with the "purple bar on the left side" appearance have a demo movie!

These Gizmo demo movies are quick (~3 minute) how-to movies that show you what each Gizmo can do, and how you can interact with it.  The movies don't teach the lesson (see the Lesson Materials or Exploration Guide for that), but they should help get you comfortable with that Gizmo.

Demo movies come with voice-over narration, so be sure you have your sound turned on.  (We recommend using headphones if in a lab setting.)

Movies are appropriate for teachers or students.

To access the demo movie, click on the "Demo" button in the purple bar, at the lower left corner of the Gizmo.

The Online Course...Lots of Energy, Passion and Commitment!

Stephen Hurley is a teacher and an educational technology enthusiast, working at Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Ontario. He has just participated in the ExploreLearning Gizmos online course, and we are delighted that Stephen contacted us with his thoughts....

"...The key benefit for me was the fact that the course forced me to look at things that I might not have looked at previously. I'm not a big consumer of product manuals - I usually try to figure things out on my own, but this course had a prescribed set of tasks and discussions in which we were required to participate. This ensured that I got to see the key components of the ExploreLearning site.

In addition, the fact that participants came from a variety of different teaching backgrounds was very helpful. I was introduced to Gizmos that I didn't know existed, and am already planning ways to integrate these into my own work.

I think that there was a sense in the course that everyone was learning. The instructors presented themselves as "open learners," eager to learn from the participants. This opened up a different type of dynamic in the course. Lots of energy, passion and commitment!"

Thanks for your comments, Stephen. We are always excited to hear feedback from our online course, and we are pleased that it helped you understand more about the power of ExploreLearning Gizmos.

Online Gizmo Training - a great success in Dekalb County, GA...

Victoria Barbour, a teacher in Dekalb County, GA, wrote to us expressing her thanks for a great online training session with Gizmos:

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!....with the new found tactics and techniques you demonstrated and modeled so perfectly, I am excited about incorporating it all into my lessons!...You Rock!"

We are delighted that Victoria has had a great experience with the online Gizmo training in Dekalb, and this has been replicated throughout Dekalb, with great results, as Dr. Trinna McKay, who is an ExploreLearning Certified Trainer explains....

"Teachers in Dekalb have had access to Gizmos for two years, and there has been a focused effort to make sure that everyone is trained with Gizmos. All department chairs are encouraged to make sure all teachers are using Gizmos.

After teachers began using Gizmos, there were increases in Biology & Physical Science EOCT (end of course test) results, and in general, Dekalb science scores have been above or near the state average in each high school. The success of Gizmos as a product and its alignment to the state performance standards made it an easy product to use for all teachers."

Gizmo demo movies - elementary science - done!

It's been a long time coming, but at long last, every elementary science Gizmo has a demo movie!  (That's 40 of them, if you're keeping score at home.)

The "movies" are short (about 2 minutes each) and have a simple "how-to" approach. They show how to use the basic features in the Gizmo. If students are brand-new to a Gizmo, the demo movie would be a nice brief introduction to it.

The movies feature a voice-over, so be sure audio is turned on before watching.  (In a lab setting, you probably either want to project it for the whole class to watch and listen to, or have students use headphones.)

To see a demo movie, click on the "demo" icon at the bottom left corner of the Gizmo, in the purple bar, as shown below.

(Note: Demo movies will only appear in elementary-level Gizmos - the ones with the purple bar on the left side.)

Tip: To find the 40 elementary science Gizmos, either click "Browse Gizmos" and browse through the grade 3-5 science offerings, or just type "elementary science" (without the quotes) in the search field.

Enjoy!  We hope these are useful for both teachers and students.

By the way, the elementary math Gizmo demo movies will now slowly start appearing also!  We hope to have all 40 of them complete by the end of 2009.

New from ExploreLearning: Online Gizmo Training!

Are you interested in increasing your knowledge and skill using ExploreLearning Gizmos? Do you want to learn to use Gizmos in your own environment, with an affordable individual cost? Sign up for one of our new three-week online initial training courses. Anyone with an active subscription to ExploreLearning.com can purchase a seat in this new course, which will feature both guided and independent learning opportunities. The first session begins on October 6th and the second begins on November 3rd. Contact sales@explorelearning.com for more information or to sign up.

Attend an "Introduction to ExploreLearning Gizmos" Webinar This Fall

If you are new to ExploreLearning, or are taking a free trial, learn more about the power of Gizmos by attending a one-hour webinar.

This fall we have a number of sessions, running until the end of the year.  You can sign up for the forthcoming webinars by clicking on one of the links below:

Monday, September 15, 2008, 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern time:         
https://admin.na3.acrobat.com/_a727178797/ite4/event/registration.html

Monday, September 29, 2008, 7.00-8.00pm Eastern time:
http://explorelearning.na3.acrobat.com/s92898/event/registration.html

For more information on our webinars, please contact support@explorelearning.com.

Attend an "Introduction to ExploreLearning Gizmos" Webinar

If you are new to ExploreLearning, or are taking a free trial, learn more about the power of Gizmos by attending a one-hour webinar. We have offered informative, introductory webinars throughout the summer for current and future customers, and our last summer session is this coming Monday! If you cannot make this webinar, be on the lookout for our fall sessions, which will be starting soon. To register for this Monday's session, click on the link below:

Monday, August 25, 2008, 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern time:         
http://explorelearning.na3.acrobat.com/ite4/event/registration.html

For more information on our webinars, please contact support@explorelearning.com

Attend an "Introduction to ExploreLearning Gizmos" webinar this summer

If you are new to ExploreLearning, or are taking a free trial, learn more about the power of Gizmos by attending a one-hour webinar. We are offering informative, introductory webinars throughout the summer for current and future customers. To register for one of these free sessions, click on the link below for a session that is convenient:

Monday, July 14, 2008, 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern time:      
http://explorelearning.na3.acrobat.com/ite/event/registration.html

Monday, July 28, 2008, 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern time:         
http://explorelearning.na3.acrobat.com/ite2/event/registration.html

Monday, August 11, 2008, 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern time:         
http://explorelearning.na3.acrobat.com/ite3/event/registration.html

Monday, August 25, 2008, 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern time:         
http://explorelearning.na3.acrobat.com/ite4/event/registration.html

For more information on our webinars, please contact support@explorelearning.com

Position Available: Training Consultant (Canada)

Please share this good news with colleagues.  With the support of the Ministry of Education in Alberta and Ontario, ExploreLearning's award-winning interactive online simulations are coming to classrooms in Ontario and Alberta.   Therefore, ExploreLearning has an exciting opportunity for an experienced science educator who is interested in making a difference in the teaching and learning of mathematics and science as an ExploreLearning Training Consultant.  This is a half-time field position (remote/home office) as a contractor or as a member of ExploreLearning’s Professional Development team.   

Duties

• The Training Consultant’s primary duties (90% of time) include the development and presentation of high quality ExploreLearning Gizmo product training, professional development, and project management across ExploreLearning’s network in Canada. 
• The consultant is also responsible for supporting sales efforts (10% of time). 

Requirements

• Experience delivering professional development for teachers, particularly in high school science
• 3+ years of classroom experience as a teacher of high school science
• Willingness to operate as a remote employee (home office)
• Willingness to travel (up to 75%)
• Resident of Ontario
• Professional references (3) attesting to mathematics PD skills and teaching skills

Education/License 

Degree in science education (Masters preferred), undergraduate degree (Major) in a science field, and Canadian province teacher license in science. 

Application Process

Additional information about this career opportunity and the application process are available at our parent company’s “Careers” site:  https://sh.webhire.com/servlet/av/jd?ai=732&ji=2159111&sn=I&tf=JobDescriptionB.html

ExploreLearning and the "Bridging the Gap" Conference in Everett, WA

ExploreLearning looks forward to visiting Everett, Washington for "Bridging the Gap," a middle grades mathematics conference on July 25-27. Keynote speakers Dr. Lee Stiff, Professor of Mathematics from North Carolina State University and Dr. Glenda Lappan from Michigan State University, will discuss strategies for closing the achievement gap during these critical learning years.

In addition, teachers who attend the conference will have the chance to hear our own Thom O'Brien speak on how ExploreLearning Gizmos provide a powerful enhancement to the way teachers teach and students learn, in the middle school years and beyond.

If you are interested in knowing more about how your school can Bridge the Gap, check out Dr. Stiff’s presentation, "It Ain’t the Kidz" and see what schools can do to take ownership and make student performance in mathematics a priority.

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!

Look for EL at Upcoming Conferences

Look for ExploreLearning reps in a booth ready to demo Gizmos at one of the following conferences. Also look for full presentations by teachers who've been using Gizmos in their classrooms. If you're attending one of these conferences, stop by and say hello.

Conference	City	Date	Presenter	Booth
NY STA	Ellenville	November 6-8
Making Connections	Charlottesville	November 7
GaETC	Atlanta	November 8-10	Nancy Clark (in the Apple booth)	Apple
NCTM Western Regional	Denver	November 10-12	Jeff Steckroth	Thom O’Brien Ken Turner
NCTM Midwestern Regional	Chicago	November 10-12	Julie Eglite Connie Ring	Rick Roegiers
VAST	Roanoke	November 17-19
NSTA Southern Regional	Nashville	December 1-3	PRISM	Rick Roegiers Eve Solomon
Tennessee Ed Tech	Nashville	November 30 December 2	Liz Crews Apple Booth
North Carolina Ed Tech	Greensboro	November 28 December 1	Thom O’Brien Apple Booth
VA Ed Tech	Roanoke	December 5-7	Thom O’Brien	Eve Solomon Thom O’Brien

How do I get the most out of Gizmos?

ExploreLearning Gizmos are great learning tools, but how you get the most out of them? How do you make time spent with a Gizmo effective learning time for your students? These are questions we've heard a lot from teachers, and they are crucial questions.  No tool automatically causes students to learn.What approaches seem to work for a lesson using Gizmos?

We've put together three documents that we hope will help answer those questions.

• Part 1, The Purpose of Gizmos
• Part 2, Using the Exploration Guide and Assessment Questions
• Part 3, Using Gizmos in Different Settings

Testimonial: "High Quality Trainers"

Here's some excellent praise that came in for our own, Thom O'Brien:

Shoreline [Public Schools in WA] subscribed to Explore Learning for three of our schools this year (2 middle - 1 high) after having done a limited pilot last year. Our teachers are enthusiastic about having this tool. I'm writing, however, to report that this enthusiasm escalated considerably due to Thom O'Brien's wonderful training session today. I've dabbled with EL for over a year and learned more in the first 20 minutes of Thom's presentation than in all that time on my own — and I reckon others felt the same way. Thom combined an easy-going style with solid practical implementation tips and some marvelous ideas on how to integrate Gizmos with other applications we use. I had to literally kick our teachers out of the room at 3:00 to free up the room — else I think they would have stayed well beyond the scheduled time …

I have already spoken to Thom about his possible return for another session with other teachers, and the teachers from today were in favor of the idea.

Thanks for the great product and for having such high quality trainers available to your clients.

Jim Golubich
Professional Development/Instructional Technology
Shoreline School District

Thanks, Jim, for your kind words. We're glad to hear that the implementation is off to a strong start.

Thom is quite a guy. By the way, if any of you happen to meet Thom when he visits your school as part of ExploreLearning's Professional Development and Teacher Training on Gizmos, be sure to ask him about a very interesting job he had in the past. (Hint: "Three rings. Big Show.")

FIRST ANNUAL SUMMERSCHOOL WORKSHOP A SUCCESS

During the last week In July, ExploreLearning hosted its first Summer School Teacher Workshop. Educators from all over the country gathered in beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia for 2 days of hands-on learning, sharing and interacting. About 3 dozen middle and high school teachers (both math and science) braved the summer heat to enjoy thought provoking  sessions, delicious meals, and a nighttime visit to President James Monroe's scenic home Ashlawn Highland (just after a terrific thunderstorm which brought welcome relief from the heat). The teachers arrived either as long-time Gizmo fans or novices -- but they all left as BIG FANS of ExploreLearning Gizmos! They also enjoyed the chance to interact with ExploreLearning's product development and professional development teams.  The group was especially convivial, and new friendships were formed.

Based on its resounding success, Summer School is sure to be an annual event.

For your enjoyment, we've created a "photo album" of some of the best pictures we took during the two days in Charlottesville.

2 Great Days in Dekalb, GA

August 3 and 4 were two great days in Dekalb County, Georgia. ExploreLearning is excited to be working with the Dekalb school district, particularly the Miller Grove High School Science Department.

During our two-day training session held at the High School the teachers got a chance to really unpack Gizmos and begin to weave them into their daily lessons. With the school year about to start, the teachers came away from the training with some Gizmos and lessons that they will be able to use almost within the first week of school.

Our first day was a standard ExploreLearning training day where we walked the teachers through the whole web site and got them familiar with how to log in, find Gizmos, add Gizmos to the teacher classes, and enroll their students. At the end of this first day the teachers were told to bring their curriculum guides, state standards and teachers editions to the next training.

Our second day was spent going over lessons that the teachers knew they were going to teach and adding the appropriate Gizmos to those lessons. Once that was done we started looking at how to deliver this instruction. Since the teachers were familiar with PowerPoint, we looked at linking Gizmos to their presentations, and using the screen capture tools that are built into the Gizmos to make their presentations more exciting. Once the teachers had created their presentation, we shared their work and had a great time listening to the ideas, and seeing the unique creativity that each teacher brought to their subject.

GIZMOS in Tuba City

ExploreLearning moves under the wide-open skies of Arizona with its adoption in Tuba City. This June we had a great training and PD day there as the teachers started looking into using GIZMOS with their students and integrating them into their curricula. The teachers were excited to see how easy the GIZMOS were to use and found many ways to incorporate the GIZMOS across curriculum areas.

Have fun using GIZMOS Tuba City…we look forward to hearing beautiful music from your area!

GIZMOS in Greenville

June 28 the Professional Development department at ExploreLearning took a little trip down to Greenville, South Carolina. A good day was spent setting up ExploreLearning accounts, and working with middle and high school math and science teachers. Greenville is a large district on the northwest side of the state and they are all very excited to start using GIZMOS in the classroom at the start of the school year. Many of the teachers were going to take some time over the summer and work with their colleagues on multidisciplinary lessons utilizing GIZMOS and curriculum that they were already familiar with.

The Greenville math department already has a head start on this project, as one of their very own, Valerie Muller, has been an ExploreLearning advocate for some time. Valerie has taken the Greenville middle school mathematics scope and sequence chart and aligned the appropriate GIZMOS to each lesson!

ExploreLearning will be back in Greenville in August to work with the rest of the district math and science teachers and we’re excited for the upcoming Greenville school year. See you in a few weeks Greenville!

Enroll Now! EL Summer School for Teachers

Join us July 27 and 28 in Charlottesville, Virginia for a hands-on workshop using ExploreLearning Gizmos.

ExploreLearning Summer School offers opportunities for middle and high school teachers to immerse themselves in ExploreLearning Math Gizmos.  Learn to integrate Gizmos into your school's curriculum and to differentiate instruction using Gizmos. 

The $450 registration fee includes:

• A one-year ExploreLearning Teacher Plus Students Subscription (retail value $799)
• Hands-on workshops led by distinguished educators
• Take-home materials
• Lunch with ExploreLearning developers and content writers
• Dinner and concert at historic Ash Lawn-Highland
• Networking opportunities, and more!

*Registration for teachers with existing ExploreLearning accounts will be discounted. See registration form for tuition discount.

email: summerschool@explorelearning.com
phone (toll free): 866-882-4141 ext 232

Check out our schedule of events and information on accommodations at www.explorelearning.com/summerschool.

Now Showing: Gizmo Demo Movies!

ExploreLearning has gone Hollywood! (sort of...) We've added five demonstration movies to our site:

• An Introduction to ExploreLearning.com
• Teaching with Gizmos - Fraction Sense
• Teaching with Gizmos - Exploring Quadratics
• Teaching with Gizmos - Genetics and Mouse Breeding
• Teaching with Gizmos - Force and Motion with Fan Cart, Part 1

The introduction movie is perfect for first-time visitors to ExploreLearning.com. It answers the question, "What is a Gizmo?" and also shows how Gizmos can help improve teaching and learning. (All that in under 8 minutes -- not bad, huh?)

The four Teaching with Gizmos movies show how you might teach a specific lesson using Gizmos. Each of these movies focuses on one Gizmo and highlights what that Gizmo helps you do to enhance student learning. (These movies are about 4-to-6 minutes each.)

We hope these movies are helpful to you. Maybe they can even help you take your teaching with Gizmos to another level. Let us know what you think!

Links to the movies are on the front page of ExploreLearning.com, and also in our new-and-improved Help Center (click on the small gray '?' at the top right corner of the screen).

By the way, these movies are large files (anywhere from 2 MB to 6 MB). They take some time to download -- depending on the speed of your internet connection, of course -- so be patient. They're well worth the wait!

Ann Arbor goes GIZMO

On May 10 and 11 the Ann Arbor middle and high school science teachers took time off to get familiar with Gizmos and Explorelearning. The two days were pack with lessons on how to use Gizmos, aligning them to daily lessons and making the best of the new technology that the teachers now have.

Some of the more interesting topics covered included: The relationship between rabbit populations to snake; What’s the lowest hill that will crack an egg in a zero friction environmen?; and, of course, viewing a whole moon cycle in a little under 2 minutes. By the end of each day the teachers were ready to go back into their building and start putting Gizmo to use with their students.

A special thanks to Linda Ann Prieskorn for making sure all the logistics were taken care of before each day. And thanks to the Ann Arbor teachers for bringing Explorelearning and Gizmos into their district!

Henrico Schools Go Gizmo!

Henrico County Schools in Richmond, Virginia have really started going Gizmo!

Three unique after school inservices were held for the Henrico teachers to help them align Gizmos to the Virginia SOL’s and match them out to their daily practices. These sessions were a huge success for the teachers as they got a chance to learn how to use the screen capture and exporting data charts utilities to take information from the Gizmo and paste it into their word processing software.

The teachers got a chance to collaborate both within their buildings and across the district. Teachers were allowed to share ideas about how they had been using Gizmos and what kind of success they have had in their classrooms. From there they looked at building off that success and integrating Gizmos more and more into their instruction. By the end of the third session the teachers had more than enough information to take Gizmos back into the classroom to enhance their teaching.

Way to go Henrico, and GO GIZMOS!

ExploreLearning Teams with Northwest Missouri State U. and Project Prism

ExploreLearning is pleased to announce a partnership with Northwest Missouri State University and Project PRISM (Promoting Reasoning and Inquiry in Science and Math). Project PRISM provides training for Missouri teachers of science in grades four through eight to introduce best practices in science education.

"We are thrilled to be a part of the Project PRISM and to be working with Northwest Missouri State on this important initiative," said Dave Shuster, Founder and President of ExploreLearning. "Through this collaboration, we will be able to support many teachers with new tools that will help them bring more inquiry and research-proven instructional practice into the classroom."

With the integration of ExploreLearning's extensive library of math and science Gizmos, teachers will learn how to incorporate innovative instructional techniques through the use of technology.

"One of the primary goals of the PRISM Project is to increase the use of technology as a learning tool in the classroom," said Marilyn Rhea, PRISM Project Director; "We know that this partnership with ExplorLearning will be valuable to our teachers as they develop classroom strategies that enable them to facilitate active learning for all of their students. We particularly see possibilities for students to confront their misconceptions and reform their understandings as they interact with the GIZMO programs."

Teachers involved with the project will commit to three years in the program. The program of study includes videoconferences, instruction over the internet and a four-week residency on the Northwest campus each summer.

Newport News Teachers Explore Gizmos

ExploreLearning had a great time visiting the Newport News Public Schools' Aviation Academy for a day of professional development. The event, organized by Martha Askew, Secondary Supervisor of Mathematics and a long time ExploreLearning Friend (ELF) gave Teachers and Technology Curriculum Integration Specialists (TCIS) a chance to navigate ExploreLearning.com and experiment with Gizmos related to their courses of study. The group created some fabulous worksheets and lesson plans. The lessons are posted on Step.com - an online resource center for Newport News teachers.

As you may have read in previous blog postings, any teacher who turns in quality lesson plans or worksheets for Gizmos will be eligible for gift certificates to our Cafe Press Store. So for all you ELFs (ExploreLearning Friends) send your lesson plans or worksheet to the attention of Eve Solomon or Thom O'Brien. Upon review, we will contact you and send out gift cards. Can't wait to see what folks are doing!

ProDev in Florida

On February 16, ExploreLearning took a trip down to Florida to welcome the newest members to the Gizmo team. The mathematics department at Parkview High School spent the afternoon getting trained on setting up their homepages, establishing their profiles and getting a first glimpse into the power of Gizmos.

By the end of the session the teachers were ready to start integrating Gizmos into their daily lessons. Even more than just integration, a few of the teachers were ready to start making some extremely challenging handouts and study guides using the Gizmos' screen capture utilities. As a group the teachers were very excited about using Gizmos and were happy to see how easy it was to work within the site and the depth of content.

Go Parkview and Go GIZMOS!!

Gizmo Training in Norfolk

Another great ExploreLearning day! After spending a day in Norfolk working with teachers and integrating Gizmos into their lessons, I can't tell you how much fun I had. After an agonizing 3d challenge, and some very cool algebra tile examples, math will never be the same down on the coast. As a group we decided to start putting our thoughts together for the first annual ExploreLearning Summer Institute. Watch the BUZZ we'll be keeping folks updated on our theme and progress throughout the upcoming months.

As an added bonus I was convinced that any teacher who turns in some good, high quality, lesson plans or worksheets for Gizmos will be eligible for gift certificates to our Cafe Express store. So for all you other ELF (ExploreLearning Friends) if you've got some good lesson plans or worksheet send them into Eve Solomon or myself, we'll start reviewing them and sending out gift cards. Can't wait to see what folks are doing!

Thom

Rockingham Rocks!

Here it is: The open Rockingham post area!

All you Rockingham County teachers who made it to our Explorelearning Best Practices sessions on January 31, this is your zone. Let us know what you're up to, how you are using Explorelearning, and take a second to show off! We would love to see the extended worksheets we talked about and start sharing some of those ideas with other Explorelearning users. Remember this is how you earn those points for the frequent flier trip to Hawaii :)

Keep up the good work and I can't wait to see how you are using Gizmos in your classrooms.
Thom and Eve.

Education Technology Leadership Conference

ExploreLearning was very excited to unveil our display booth at the VDOE Technology Conference in Roanoke, VA last week. Take a look at the snapshot of our booth! It was a great conference, we talked to many EL users who love the site and are excited about how Gizmos are making a difference in their classrooms. We gave away a lot of free trials and are busily setting up those accounts for teachers all over the great state of Virginia.

If you missed the conference and want a trial account, drop us a note and we'd be happy to set you up in the new year. Have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and we look forward to lending you a hand in your mathematics and science classrooms in the new year.

The Professional Development Department

Here at ExploreLearning we want to help you achieve all that is possible with our Gizmos. What does this mean? Well that's where you can help us. We are in the process of building a dynamic Professional Development department staffed with experienced educators who are anxious to get out and help you discover the power of Gizmos. This post is to get your thoughts on where we should focus our initial energies. Here is a sampling of what we have been batting around the office:

1. Algebra Readiness: Gizmos and support material to help students prepare for Algebra success.
2. Small school implementation issues: In smaller schools where a curriculum specialist may not be available, how can we get all teachers comfortable with Gizmos quickly and efficiently?
3. Ideas for specialized training days: Similar to Algebra Readiness, there are curricular issues facing teachers today that ExploreLearning can help resolve. Once we have a handle on what these issues are, and where the greatest need is, we can build unique training seminars to help schools work through some of these concerns.

Teacher Training and Professional Development Program

In order to maximize your subscription investment in the rich and powerful library of ExploreLearning Gizmos, we encourage you to take advantage of our informative teacher training and professional development program.

Led by skilled instructors, ExploreLearning's live courses instruct teachers how to blend technology into their instruction as well as learning how to use the simple and intuitive enrollment and set-up process for the Gizmo delivery platform, use of exemplary Gizmos in relevant grade levels and subject areas, and management of student login and assessment results.

ExploreLearning's team of trainers provides one or more initial training sessions (depending on the number of teachers participating in the school or district adoption) as well as ongoing support for staff development. Participants in the initial training session(s) may be classroom teachers, school/district staff training specialists, or both.

Please for information on our Training and Professional Development program.