Explorelearning

Explorelearning is an amazing website designed to let students experience math and science with Gizmos. What are Gizmos you may think? They are on-line simulations that power inquiry and understanding of the concepts. They are short "Shockwave" application that will run directly in your web browser, provided that you have the shockwave plugin installed.

Each Gizmo will let the students change some variables and watch the impact directly on the screen through the simulation. As an example, this Gizmo about Golf Range let you change the initial speed of the ball as well as the angle. You can also choose whether the atmosphere will be composed of air or nothing. It is even possible to change more advanced variable such as gravity and the height of the golfer. During and after the experiment, the student can then measure final speed in x and y, the range of the ball, time, height reached, etc. There are even multiple choice questions for assessment after the experiment.

There is also a demonstration video that shows you hot to use Gizmos to their full potential. Gizmos are sorted by grade and subjects, so it is very easy to find the one you need. In mathematics, they cover geometry, algebra, number sense, measurements, etc. In Science, they cover physical science, life science, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy and earth sciences. Some examples of Gizmos are : Kepler's Law, polling, cells, ecology, human biology, solving equations, patterns, linear functions, nonlinear functions, perimeter, area, volume, etc. Activities are included for grade 6 to 12. There is one downside to this website. It is only free for five minutes per day, which means, each computer at your school may only access Gizmos for 5 minutes each. There is a cookie stored in your Internet browser cache that keeps track of your usage of the Gizmos. However, the site is well worth paying because there are so many Gizmos.