The Gizmo Gazette

Special Edition for Ontario Educators
November 2010

This newsletter is full of great information on Gizmos and the latest Ontario-related goings on at ExploreLearning:

Ontario Subscription Renewal Welcome Back from Stephen Lippa, OCT Ontario Educator Spotlight Send Gizmos Home with Your Students Get Started with Gizmos

Ontario Subscription Renewal

Hot off the press!! The Ministry of Education OSAPAC license for ExploreLearning Gizmos has just been renewed and expanded to include 7th and 8th grade science teachers, meaning Gizmos are now available to all math and science teachers in grades 7-12 in Ontario public schools. To date, over 12,000 teachers have Gizmos accounts, making it possible for more than 219,000 students to access Gizmos! We look forward to working with even more Ontario educators this coming year.

Thanks to all of the school board coordinators and the ExploreLearning trainers who are making a difference. Go Gizmos!

Greetings from Stephen Lippa, OCT

Here is a special message from Stephen Lippa, your Ontario Project Manager.

Hello, Ontario! I am really excited to be here for another great year working with teachers across the province. In 2010, the number of students using Gizmos in Ontario has grown exponentially. Thank you for showing them how to access ExploreLearning as another support to the great things you do in your classroom. I have put together a few simple ideas for you to consider when planning lessons:

• Review the "Quick Links" and "Ontario Support" sections on the right-hand side of this newsletter. They will help you recall how to organize your classes, add Gizmos, enroll students and more!
• Make a contest using Gizmos into your classroom. For example, divide your class into teams and have them run ten trials per student on the Reaction Time Gizmo. Have them compete for lowest mode, smallest range, etc. This sort of competition can be a fun way for students to get more comfortable with using the vocabulary of math and science.
• Incorporate the camera feature on Gizmos into your lessons. It's handy for creating authentic assessments and open response questions. Of course, it's also a great alternative for students to demonstrate their conceptual understanding.
• Most importantly, have a great year learning with your students and exploring Gizmos together! Please contact me with any questions. I am here to help.

Ontario Educator Spotlight

Carol Miron, OCT has been teaching mathematics for twelve years and currently teaches at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute in Scarborough. Recently she has concentrated on the twelfth grade course, Mathematics of Data Management. Check out her Data Management class list to see the sequence of Gizmos she is using in this course.

As an ExploreLearning Certified Trainer, Carol has seen many teachers get excited about using Gizmos to stimulate student dialogue and learning. She believes the breadth of topics and tools on the ExploreLearning website enhances students' and teachers' attitudes toward mathematics learning. She sees Gizmos as a resource to be used again and again, no matter the grade or course, in and out of the classroom.

“Gizmos provide powerful tools for teachers to incorporate movement and suspense into their lessons while targeting common misconceptions. Students can investigate math properties in a non-threatening environment or obtain immediate feedback while they practice new skills.”

One of Carol's favorite Gizmos is Describing Data Using Statistics. The visual representation of the mean, median, mode and range help students to better understand each formula's purpose. Carol has contributed lesson materials for this Gizmo to help students better understand the relationship between these statistics in a data set. Using her Central Tendencies with Gizmos exploration, students must find data sets that satisfy specified statistical conditions, then use the screenshot feature to document and explain their methodology.

Send Gizmos Home with Your Students

Gizmos aren't only for classrooms and computer labs. They can be used and enjoyed by students and parents anywhere with an internet-connected computer.

To help parents understand more about using Gizmos at home, we've prepared a simple letter that you can send with your students. The letter explains what Gizmos are and how to access them. It even has space to include the students' login information.

If this sounds like something you can use, just visit the ExploreLearning Ontario Welcome Page and find the "Parent's Introduction" on the right side of the page.

Get Started With Gizmos

Gizmos are available to all Ontario grade 7-12 Math and Science teachers. Teachers who have not yet accessed ExploreLearning Gizmos should contact their school board's Science, Math or Technology Coordinator for a username and password. You may also contact Ontario Project Manager Stephen Lippa for assistance with getting started.

If you haven't personalized your ExploreLearning.com account, you may be missing out on news and information about Gizmos. All you have to do is click on the Settings button at top-right of your Teacher Homepage and enter your name and e-mail address. This will allow you to receive the regular monthly newsletter and other important updates. Plus, it will allow you to retrieve your account information if you forget your password. ExploreLearning does not share your e-mail address with advertisers.

For information about bringing Gizmos to grades 3-6 in Ontario, please contact Robert Burwell, your Canada Account Executive.

As always, if you have a question or comment about Gizmos, don't hesitate to contact our Customer Support team. We would love to hear from you. Also, take a look at ExploreLearning News on the front page of the website for breaking news any time.