The Savvy Technologist

Online “gizmos” at ExploreLearning

ExploreLearning.com is a subscription service that has about 600 science and math simulations. Here’s the official word from their site:

ExploreLearning offers a catalog of modular, interactive simulations in math and science for teachers and students in grades 6-12. We call these simulations Gizmos. Gizmos are fun, easy to use, and flexible enough to support many different teaching styles and contexts. Our Gizmos are designed as supplemental curriculum materials that support state and national curriculum standards; in addition, Gizmos help teachers bring research-proven instructional strategies to their classrooms.

Once they have an account, teachers can make various simulations available to their students. All of the simulations have supplementary materials and most have some assessment features. One feature that intrigues me is the ability to link directly to the simulations. That would make it easy to add one to one of our Moodle courses. We tried several different “gizmos” during the presentation including the Doppler Effect, roller coast physics, and an infectious disease simulation. They all seemed very well done and I would definitely use them if I was still a physics teacher.

Tags: moodle