How do Gizmos Support the Common Core Assessments?

The Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), and other new state online assessments measure students’ understanding of the standards. These include interactive test items that engage students in critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Gizmos help prepare students for success on these assessments by providing experiences with the rigor and depth of understanding required. With Gizmos, students engage in complex tasks that require problem solving, critical thinking, modeling, data analysis, and information literacy. Students reason from the evidence and draw logical conclusions.

In addition, many sample test items feature interactive tools - think 'mini-Gizmos' - directly integrated into the questions. These 'Gizmo-like' questions feature similar content and functions as the simulations in our library. Gizmos provide excellent preparation for these types of technology-enhanced questions.

Using the Fraction Artist 1 Gizmo, students learn that a fraction represents a relationship between a part and the whole, compare fractions and develop an understanding of equivalent fractions.

PARCC

Sample Test Item

This sample assessment item asks students to illustrate the fraction of a farmer's field that is planted by dragging a bean into each planted section.

Gizmo

This Gizmo allows students to divide a rectangular canvas in various ways and then 'paint' parts of it. The painting below is 6/8 (or 3/4) yellow.

SBAC

Sample Test Item

This sample assessment item asks students to divide a rectangle into equally sized pieces and then shade a specified fraction of them.

Gizmo

This Gizmo allows students to divide a rectangular canvas in various ways and then 'paint' parts of it. The painting below is 4/6 (or 2/3) blue.

With the Distance-Time Graphs Gizmo, students can observe the relationship between a runner's motion and a graph of distance versus time. They learn what the slope indicates and can calculate the speed of the runner based on the graph.

PARCC

Sample Test Item

This sample test item asks students to compare the speed of four objects based on distance/time data in graphs or tables.

Gizmo

The Gizmo shown below has one runner completing a 40-yard dash at a constant speed. The activity asks students to record the speed and time in a table.

SBAC

Sample Test Item

This sample test item shows runners in a 400-meter hurdles race. Students are asked to describe what is happening in this race.

Gizmo

This Gizmo scenario has two runners that vary their speeds throughout the race. The activity asks students to describe each runner's motion at each interval.

The Quadratics in Vertex Form Gizmo provides good practice for the Common-Core-related assessments. Students can practice with a dynamic graph to see how changes to the function's parameters affect the shape, orientation, and location of the graph.

PARCC

Sample Test Item

This sample test item asks students to use sliders to create the graph of a specified quadratic function.

Gizmo

In the Quadratics in Vertex Form Gizmo, students use sliders to graph quadratic functions and to explore the effects of varying parameters in the equation.

SBAC

Sample Test Item

This sample assessment item asks students to shift the parabola's location to match a given quadratic function.

Gizmo

The Quadratics in Vertex Form Gizmo also allows students to drag the parabola on the graph directly, and investigate how this affects the equation.