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

Expert Corner: Whole Group Instruction

NGSS Correlations and New NGSS and Common Core Pages

New Lesson Materials

State Test Results Rise with Reflex Usage

Grant Program Accepting Applications

Gizmos and Reflex Win EDDIE Awards

Educator of the Month: Niels Walkau

Expert Corner: Whole Group Instruction

Laura Chervenak has been with ExploreLearning since 2010 as the VP of Professional Development. 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.

As a member of the ExploreLearning Professional Development department, the most rewarding part of my job is helping teachers appreciate all of the ways Gizmos can help their students succeed in math and science. More and more, we hear from teachers and school administrators who say their computer labs and laptop carts are less available for one-to-one Gizmo use, due to competing demands such as computerized testing. They ask, “how can Gizmos be used effectively in a classroom with only a projector and a few computers?”

Research has shown that effective use of simulations in whole class instruction significantly improves student understanding in science (Smetana, 2008). In a series of articles this school year, I will be highlighting whole-group instruction with Gizmos, including best-practice strategies for maximizing student engagement and achievement.

We will begin with an exploration of lesson planning with Gizmos, including how to pull the best whole class instructional sequence from the Gizmo lesson materials to meet your needs. We will return in January, after the winter break, to focus on making your Gizmo lessons more student-centric, even when you have a single computer in your classroom. In February, we will discuss strategies for engaging all students in the classroom in your whole-class lessons. In March, we will look at questioning techniques that foster inquiry, and we will look at the role of seatwork and homework in April. Finally, in May, we will wrap up the series with a discussion of what comes next — instruction beyond the whole group.

I’m looking forward to exploring all of the ways that a teacher can use Gizmos in a classroom with just one or two computers and a projector. I’d love to hear your ideas and strategies as well! If you have strategies related to whole-group instruction with Gizmos to share, please email me at GizmosPD@explorelearning.com.

NGSS Correlations and
New NGSS and Common Core Pages

The wait is over. The Gizmos science library is now correlated to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)! You can now select a Disciplinary Core Idea and easily find the Gizmos that will best meet your needs.

We have also added new NGSS and Common Core sections to ExploreLearning.com. These new pages illustrate how Gizmos help teachers and students meet the challenge of the new standards by developing the critical knowledge, skills, and practices required for college and career readiness. Explore how students can move beyond memorizing facts, formulas, and mnemonics, and progress toward a deeper understanding of underlying mathematical and scientific principles through the use of Gizmos.

New Lesson Materials

During the summer, the ExploreLearning team was hard at work updating Lesson Materials for the new school year. We are happy to share updates for over 25 Gizmos!

We're excited about every one of these additions, but want to call your attention to some particularly cool ones, such as:

• Point-Slope Form of a Line - Activity A

• Cat and Mouse (Modeling with Linear System) – Activity B

• Beam to Moon (Ratios and Proportions)

• Surface and Lateral Areas of Pyramids and Cones

• Mean, Median, and Mode

You can find more about these and other Lesson Material updates on the ExploreLearning Blog.

State Test Results Rise with Reflex Usage

A 6th grade math teacher at Sutherland Middle School in Virginia's Albemarle County Public Schools worked with ExploreLearning to examine the relationship between Reflex usage and test results. Outcomes on two different mathematics assessments were examined, NWEA’s Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) and the state’s high stakes math test.

The results were striking. The students in the high Reflex usage group grew far more, on average, than their peers on both measures. Their state test pass rate increased far more than the overall district average, reaching 94%. This is up from 50% for the same students in the previous year, and growth on the MAP test was more than double the national average. For more on these great results, check out the full story on our blog.

Grant Program Accepting Applications

The Reflex Educator Grant Program is back! ExploreLearning is now accepting applications from exceptional math educators who want an opportunity to use Reflex with their students. The program provides full use of Reflex for 12 months for one classroom of students, plus training and ongoing support for participating teachers.

The deadline to apply is November 29, 2013.

Gizmos and Reflex Win EDDIE Awards

We are pleased to announce that The ComputED Gazette has awarded both ExploreLearning products Educational Software Review Awards (EDDIEs) for the second year in a row. Reflex won an EDDIE in the Upper Elementary School category, and Gizmos won in the Multi-level category. These awards are great validation of how well both of our products help students achieve more in math and science.

The EDDIEs target content-rich and innovative programs and websites that augment classroom curriculum and improve the productivity of teachers. Winning products provide teachers and parents alike with technology that fosters educational excellence, and are chosen from titles submitted by publishers worldwide.

We’re very pleased to have Reflex and Gizmos recognized for these awards!.

Educator of the Month: Niels Walkau

Niels Walkau is a teacher at Coberg West High School in Ontario. He has been using Gizmos for 4 years and has been teaching for 18 years. He teaches 10th and 11th grade academic-level Biology and Chemistry.

Mr. Walkau facilitates students’ academic growth by focusing on learning goals. One of the most important resources he uses to achieve this is Gizmos. He tells students, “There are a variety of resources to help you meet each goal, but one thing’s for sure, if you use the assigned Gizmos, you will learn.” Since adding Gizmos to the curriculum, his students have responded well. “The kids just run with it. They love the freedom and independence Gizmos provide. It allows them to speed experiments up, change variables, and helps them learn at their own pace. Also, it’s interactive and digital, so it maintains students’ enthusiasm and engagement.”

Gizmos have not only been helpful to Mr. Walkau’s teaching practice, but they have also added new content to his curriculum. He explains, “I didn’t teach the concept of star spectra before Gizmos, but after seeing it in the Star Spectra Gizmo, something just clicked. I realized that students need to know where matter comes from before they can start talking about its properties and behaviors. I realized Spectroscopy would be the cornerstone for the unit. Spectroscopy is one of the most important tools for element identification, and it made perfect sense to use the Star Spectra Gizmo as an intro to the topic. After using the Gizmo, the kids did a hands-on lab and burned elements. They used real spectroscopes to observe elemental spectra, just like the ones shown in the Gizmo. With Gizmos, kids that had no background knowledge could test and play, and then do it for real. When it was all tied together, students began to understand where the elements come from—students’ eyes were opened! It even led to a class discussion about the Big Bang theory.”

Gizmos also rekindled Mr. Walkau’s love of astronomy. After creating the unit with the Star Spectra Gizmo, he joined an astronomy group and has even begun collecting a few telescopes of his own. Happy star gazing, Mr. Walkau!

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