This newsletter is full of great information on Gizmos, Reflex, and the latest happenings at ExploreLearning:

Reflex wins Tech and Learning Award of Excellence!

Expert Corner: Building Understanding of Fractions

Educator of the Month: Kay Stephen

New Reflex Game: Fizz Heads

Reflex Educator Grant Program

Reflex wins a Tech and Learning Award of Excellence!

ExploreLearning Reflex was named a New Product winner in the 30th annual Tech & Learning Magazine Awards of Excellence! The awards honor software, hardware, network, and Web products, and include innovative applications that break new ground. A panel of more than 30 educators chose the winners.

This is the 3rd award this year for Reflex, the most advanced (and the most fun!) math fact fluency solution ever developed.

Expert Corner: Building Understanding of Fractions

Thom O'Brien has been with ExploreLearning for ten years in a variety of roles, including working with teachers to integrate Gizmos into more effective teaching in math and science. Thom has a Master's degree in Instructional Mathematics and he taught 7th grade math before joining EL.

For many teachers and students, fractions are a struggle. It’s a topic that comes around every year, but how can you present fractions to your students so that they really “get” them?

ExploreLearning offers several Gizmos designed to help students build real understanding of fractions. Two of our most popular are the Fraction Artist Gizmos 1 & 2. (The difference between the two is the Lesson Materials: the first is introductory, while the second provides more challenge.)

Both Fraction Artist Gizmos provide students with a blank canvas, which they can divide up and “paint,” loosely modeled after the style of artist Piet Mondrian.

For example, you or your students could make a painting like the one to the right. You could then ask students, “What fraction of this painting is red?” This is a good “fraction basics” question. To answer, students need to see two things. First, the painting is divided into 3 equal-sized pieces, so the denominator of the fraction needs to be a 3. Secondly, there is one red piece, so the numerator is 1. Putting it together, this painting is 1/3 red.

Students can continue dividing the painting up, and adding other colors to it. (And as they do, the fraction questions can get a little more interesting.) For example, suppose students divide the red section again (divide 1/3 into thirds), and then add some yellow, as shown to the right. So, here’s a new question: “How much of this painting is yellow?”

In fact, the painting is 1/9 yellow. Could your students explain why? The Gizmo’s “Inspect sections” feature can help illustrate why. (Note the blue overlay in the 3rd image to the right.)

Mathematically, what this shows is that 1/3 of 1/3 is 1/9, or in other words, 1/3 • 1/3 = 1/9. (This is a nice way to provide some understanding behind the oft-quoted saying, “’of’ means multiply.”

You could also ask students, “How much of the painting is red now?” The answer is 2/9. Each red section is one ninth (1/9), so two of them is two ninths (2/9). In other words, 1/9 + 1/9 = 2/9. (You can find answers like this in the Gizmo by using the “Inspect colors” option.) This helps illustrate why, when adding fractions, numerators get added but denominators do not.

So in this short “mini-lesson,” we’ve touched on at least four important fraction concepts – the meaning of the numerator, the meaning of the denominator, multiplying fractions, and adding fractions. (And obviously, we’ve only barely scratched the surface of what’s possible. There are plenty of other ideas in the Lesson Materials.) Not bad for a fun, simple painting Gizmo!

Educator of the Month: Kay Stephen

Kay Stephen teaches a variety of science courses at St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Ontario. She has been a science teacher since 1996. Mrs. Stephen is an active science blogger, curriculum developer, and textbook writer. In 2011, Mrs. Stephen served as a judge for the Google Science Fair and was selected as the Smarter Science® Secondary Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Stephen believes that science teaching needs to be less about the regurgitation of facts and more about discovery, inquiry, and collaboration, so she has become a devoted fan of Gizmos.

Mrs. Stephen has been using Gizmos for four years and considers them an invaluable resource. She uses Gizmos to enhance her students’ real-world scientific explorations. Mrs. Stephen uses Gizmos to introduce topics, to reinforce learning, and to experiment in ways that that normally would not be possible in a secondary school science lab.

Some of Mrs. Stephen’s favorite Gizmos are Building DNA, 2D Eclipse, 3D Eclipse, Circuit Builder, Germination, Circulatory System, and H-R Diagram. She has found that these Gizmos promote inquiry and collaboration in her classroom, can be used by learners of all levels, and provide instantaneous experimental results.

A great example of how Mrs. Stephen blends hands-on and virtual investigations is described in her blog. Realizing that many of her students had little experience with nature, Mrs. Stephen initiated a plant growing project. The students began the project by planting marigold and tomato seeds. As the seeds were germinating, they spent a class period working with the Growing Plants Gizmo. Mrs. Stephen’s students jumped right into the Gizmo and spontaneously began a “Who can grow the tallest plant?” contest. Students were then able to design and run controlled experiments to understand the effects of each variable on plant growth. The results of the virtual experiments informed the real-world investigations students were doing with their plants.

New Reflex Game: Fizz Heads

Reflex, the most effective math fact fluency program ever created, and the most fun, keeps improving. We’ve just added a new game on the island — Fizz Heads!

Answer math facts to steer the moving fizz heads to the optimal landing spot in the beaker. If the heads stack all the way to the top, the beaker will break and the game is over. Keep the pile lower in the beaker by lining up heads that look alike. Three or more look-alike heads in a row will "fizz" up and earn points.

Fizz Heads will show up as a "locked" game for most students using Reflex. But after a few Green Light days, they'll be able to unlock this new game and give it a try.

To take a free Reflex trial, go to http://www.reflexmath.com/trial

Reflex Educator Grant Program

Teresa Wiist is a teacher in Tenaha ISD who received a Reflex Grant along with another teacher at her school, Brenda Farmer. She reports that not only do her 4th Graders love Reflex, but her students “are making tremendous, measurable progress while they are enhancing their fluency.”

Ms. Wiist says “I had some students early in the year that were not engaged in the classroom and had trouble turning in their homework, as well as poor performance on classroom assessments.” And now she’s happy that “not only are their skills increasing, but also their self-esteem! They are so proud of what they are doing with Reflex!"

Ms. Wiist really appreciates that Reflex “allows me to follow each student's progress as they become fluent with their facts.” And her 4th Graders are making incredible progress. After 24 days of mean usage, 17 of her students have gone from 18% starting fluency to 80% current fluency! The other teachers in her school now want Reflex, and they’re hoping to buy it soon for the entire school. We look forward to hearing about continued success with Reflex in Tenaha.

The Reflex Educator Grant Program is now accepting applications for its second round (deadline November 30, 2012). To apply or to find out more about the grant, go to reflexmath.com

Stay in Touch

If you want to comment on any of the information in this newsletter, be sociable and post your insights on the Facebook pages for Gizmos and Reflex.

And as always, if you have a question or comment about Gizmos or Reflex, don't hesitate to contact our Customer Support team using the support form for either Gizmos or Reflex. We would love to hear from you.

For information on bringing Gizmos and Reflex to schools in your area, contact your ExploreLearning Account Representative:

866-882-4141, Option 2 sales@explorelearning.com