The Gizmo Gazette News from ExploreLearning.com December 2010

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

Match the Gizmos and Win a Flip Camera!

Math Curriculum Materials Updates

Gizmo Educator of the Month

Holiday Fun with Gizmos

Job Opportunity: Inside Sales Manager

Match the Gizmos and Win a Flip Camera!

Our 2010 holiday greeting card contains images from fifteen different Gizmos. That inspired us to launch a fun Holiday Card Contest.

Match the images in the card to their corresponding Gizmos and you'll be entered into our contest to win a top-of-the-line Flip minoHD 8GB video camera with a unique Gizmos cover design.

Entries must be submitted by December 19, 2010 at midnight; we will randomly select one winner on December 20th. Please note that you must be a teacher or administrator with an ExploreLearning Subscriber or Free Trial account to be eligible to win.

Happy Holidays and "Season's Gizmos!"

Math Curriculum Materials Updates

Just as we are nearing completion of our extensive enhancements to the Science Gizmos' curriculum materials, we have already started in on the Math Gizmos. Updates started in November, and will continue into the beginning of next year.

Click on the "Lesson Materials" link from any updated Gizmo to see the improvements to our new format of four documents: Student Exploration sheet, Student Exploration Answer Key, Teacher Guide, and Vocabulary sheet.

You can keep track of our updates by following us on Facebook and Twitter, where we'll notify you each time we add more.

Gizmo Lesson Materials, recommendations, and Shared Class Gizmo Lists are available to ExploreLearning subscribers and free trial users, based on "What I Teach" settings. They are customized just for your teaching! Watch the Community Features Overview for more information. You can learn more about ExploreLearning and Teaching with Gizmos in our Video Library as well.

Gizmo Educator of the Month

Kandy Froehlick, also known to his students as "Mr. F" and "Fro," has been teaching since he graduated from University of Lethbridge in 1997. He teaches several high school science courses, plus Forensic Science, Paleontology and Marine Biology at Rimbey Junior/Senior High School in Alberta, Canada.

Three years ago, his assistant superintendent asked him to learn more about Gizmos and possibly become a trainer. When he got together with ExploreLearning's training consultant, he was really impressed with the product and became involved in training other Alberta educators. He has been using Gizmos in his classroom ever since.

Mr. F points to the Mouse Genetics Gizmo as a great way to effectively demonstrate genetics to his ninth graders. They can actually see how two black mice could produce white offspring, if the parents have recessive genes for white fur. His students can also learn about the probabilities of fur colors via Punnett square predictions and repeated trials. He reports that after using this Gizmo, assessment scores were higher than previous years on the same genetics quiz.

“Gizmos are absolutely great for showing the students ideas that are abstract or too impractical to collect the data. Everything from balancing chemical reactions and being able to see the molecules to food chains and being able to see how the numbers are affected generation after generation. Gizmos make concepts real and fun to learn.”

Go Gizmos!

Holiday Fun with Gizmos

Gizmos always add excitement to the classroom because they are so interactive and engaging. Here's a little additional fun you can have with some Gizmos that are tailor-made for the season.

Try the Quilting Bee Gizmo which is full of valuable lessons on line and rotational symmetry. Let students create their own holiday quilts and then try to determine all of the lines of symmetry.

Then of course there's the classic Holiday Snowflake Designer which also teaches about symmetry. Have students create virtual designs, and then copy them into documents for printing and cutting. Decorate your class windows with all of them!

Consider posting the students' favorite designs on the ExploreLearning Facebook page.

Happy Holidays!

Job Opportunity: Inside Sales Manager

If you have a successful background in the management of an inside sales team and a passion for education, you may be interested in learning more about our Inside Sales Manager position. The job is based at our headquarters in Charlottesville, VA, which was named the best place to live in the United States in the book Cities Ranked and Rated.

If this isn't a job for you, then perhaps you know the right person. Feel free to pass along this opportunity. You can even forward this newsletter with a simple web form.

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.