FREE Gizmos

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Model and compare decimals using area models. Set the number of sections in each model to 1, 10, or 100, and then click in the models to shade sections. Compare decimals visually and on a number line.

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Create your own rock art with ancient symbols. Each symbol can be translated, rotated, and reflected. After exploring each type of transformation, see if you can use them to match ancient rock paintings.

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Operate an elevator in an old apartment building. Pick up and drop off residents where they want to go. A line graph shows where the elevator traveled over time. Operate the elevator either by using the standard up and down controls, or by building a graph to program where you want it to go.

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Extend understanding of fractions by making modern paintings in the style of Piet Mondrian. Create and analyze paintings with different-sized sections. Compare the sizes of unit fractions. Find creative ways to color one-half of a painting. This can be a nice introduction to adding fractions with unlike denominators.

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Observe how different colors of light are reflected or absorbed by colored objects. Determine that white light is a combination of different colors of light, and that one or more component colors may be reflected when white light is shone on an object. Understand that we see an object when light reflected from the object enters our eye.

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In 1915, Alfred Wegener proposed that all of Earth's continents were once joined in an ancient supercontinent he called Pangaea. Wegener's idea of moving continents led to the modern theory of plate tectonics. Create your own version of Pangaea by fitting Earth's landmasses together like puzzle pieces. Use evidence from fossils, rocks, and glaciers to refine your map.

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Heat or cool a container of water and observe the phase changes that take place. Use a magnifying glass to observe water molecules as a solid, liquid, or gas. Compare the volumes of the three phases of water.

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Learn how to determine the mass of an object using a triple beam balance. The mass of a variety of objects can be determined using this simulated version of a common real-world laboratory tool for measurement.

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Calculate the difference between the times given by two analog clocks. Rotate the hands of the clocks to change the time and see how the calculation changes.

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Test your reaction time by catching a falling ruler or clicking a target. Create a data set of experiment results, and calculate the range, mode, median, and mean of your data. Data can be displayed on a list, table, bar graph or dot plot. The Reaction Time 1 Student Exploration focuses on range, mode, and median.

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Explore the relationship between the correlation coefficient of a data set and its graph. Fit a line to the data and compare the least-squares fit line.

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Determine if a relation is a function using the mapping diagram, ordered pairs, or the graph of the relation. Drag arrows from the domain to the range, type in ordered pairs, or drag points to the graph to add inputs and outputs to the relation.

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Multiply two fractions using an area model. Vary the vertical area to change one fraction and vary the horizontal area to change the other. Then examine the intersection of the areas to find the product.

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Use a dynamic triangle to explore the area of a triangle. With the help of an animation, see that any triangle is always half of a parallelogram (with the same base and height). Likewise, a similar animation shows the connection between parallelograms and rectangles.

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Change the values in a data set and examine how the dynamic histogram changes in response. Adjust the interval size of the histogram and see how the shape of the histogram is affected.

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See how muscles, bones, and connective tissue work together to allow movement. Observe how muscle contraction arises from the interactions of thin and thick filaments in muscle cells. Using what you have learned, construct an arm that can lift a weight or throw a ball. Connective tissue, muscle composition, bone length, and tendon insertion point can all be manipulated to create an arm to lift the heaviest weight or throw a ball the fastest.

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Follow the path of a carbon atom through the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. Manipulate a simplified model to see how human activities and other factors affect the amount of atmospheric carbon today and in the future.

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Investigate the properties of an ideal gas by performing experiments in which the temperature is held constant (Boyle's Law), and others in which the pressure remains fixed (Charles's Law). The pressure is controlled through the placement of masses on the lid of the container, and temperature is controlled with an adjustable heat source. Gay-Lussac's law relating pressure to temperature can also be explored by keeping the volume constant.

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As an acoustic engineer, students will work with an urban planner to learn how noise pollution impacts a community. Students will develop a system model to test design solutions. Wave properties of sound and how sound interacts with different surfaces will be explored and used as evidence to reduce noise pollution.

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Use the graph of the feasible region to find the maximum or minimum value of the objective function. Vary the coefficients of the objective function and vary the constraints. Explore how the graph of the feasible region changes in response.

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Adjust the values in a quadratic function, in vertex form or in polynomial form, to "zap" as many data points as possible.

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Compare the point-slope form of a linear equation to its graph. Vary the coefficients and explore how the graph changes in response.

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Build right triangles in an interactive geoboard and build squares on the sides of the triangles to discover the Pythagorean Theorem.

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Study the graphs of polynomials up to the fourth degree. Vary the coefficients of the equation and investigate how the graph changes in response. Explore things like intercepts, end behavior, and even near-zero behavior.

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As a marine biologist students learn about photosynthesis to help scientists in Australia determine why the coral in the Great Barrier Reef is bleaching.

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Use data from up to three weather stations to predict the motion of a hurricane. The wind speed, wind direction, cloud cover and air pressure are provided for each station using standard weather symbols.

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Solve problems in chemistry using dimensional analysis. Select appropriate tiles so that units in the question are converted into units of the answer. Tiles can be flipped, and answers can be calculated once the appropriate unit conversions have been applied.

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Study wave motion, diffraction, interference, and refraction in a simulated ripple tank. A wide variety of scenarios can be chosen, including barriers with one or two gaps, multiple wave sources, reflecting barriers, or submerged rocks. The wavelength and strength of waves can be adjusted, as well as the amount of damping in the tank.

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Collect fingerprints from simulated crime scenes using a camera, fingerprinting powder, and tape. Classify fingerprints into groups and subgroups, then identify minutiae. Match collected prints to the fingerprints of suspects to identify who left prints at the scene of the crime.

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Grow Wisconsin Fast Plants^® in a simulated lab environment. Explore the life cycles of these plants and how their growth is influenced by light, water, and crowding. Practice pollinating the plants using bee sticks, then observe the traits of the offspring plants. Use Punnett squares to model the inheritance of genes for stem color and leaf color for these plants.

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In this follow-up to Fast Plants^® 1 - Growth and Genetics, continue to explore inheritance of traits in Wisconsin Fast Plants. Infer the genotype of a "mystery P2 parent" of a set of Fast Plants based on the traits of the P1, F1, and F2 plants. Then create designer Fast Plants by selectively breeding plants with desired traits.

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As a marine biologist students learn about photosynthesis to help scientists in Australia determine why the coral in the Great Barrier Reef is bleaching.

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Observe the spread of disease through a group of people. The methods of transmission can be chosen and include person-to-person, airborne, and foodborne as well as any combination thereof. The probability of each form of transmission and number of people in the group can also be adjusted.

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Have you ever used a glove warmer to keep your hands warm? How about an instant cold pack to treat an injury? In the Feel the Heat Gizmo, create your own hot and cold packs using various salts dissolved in water and different bag materials. Learn about exothermic and endothermic processes and how energy is absorbed or released when bonds are broken and new bonds form.

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In this three-part series, students become junior engineers tasked with designing a safe and exciting skate park. Using the Sled Wars Gizmo, they investigate how mass, speed, and ramp height affect kinetic and potential energy, as well as the transfer of energy during collisions. Students collect and analyze data, build and revise models, and apply their understanding to a real-world engineering challenge. Along the way, they deepen their grasp of core ideas like energy transfer, energy conservation, and the relationship between motion and energy.

Explore fractions using the Fractionator, the machine that makes fraction tiles. Compare fractions and find equivalent fractions by arranging the tiles on two horizontal rows. Explore simplifying fractions. Add fractions and express sums as improper fractions or mixed numbers.

Use groups of critters on leaves to model multiplication as repeated addition. Change the expression to change the number of groups or the number of critters per group. Display the critters either on leaves or as a rectangular array.

This Gizmo provides you with two challenges. First, use blocks to build a figure with a given volume. Then, try to balance the blocks on a platform that sits on the tip of a cone. The dimensions of the platform can be adjusted, and blocks can be added or deleted by clicking on the model.

Drop a number into a function machine, and see what number comes out! You can use one of the six pre-set function machines, or program your own function rule into one of the blank machines. Stack up to three function machines together. Input and output can be recorded in a table and on a graph.

Launch a charged particle into a chamber. Charged particles can be added into the chamber to influence the path of the moving particle. The launch speed can be changed as well. Try to match a given path by manipulating the fixed particles in the chamber.

Compare average temperatures, precipitation, humidity, and wind speed for a variety of locations across the globe. Explore the influence of latitude, proximity to oceans, elevation, and other factors on climate. Observe how animals and plants are adapted to climate and their environment. This lesson uses metric units.

Compare average temperatures, precipitation, humidity, and wind speed for a variety of locations across the globe. Explore the influence of latitude, proximity to oceans, elevation, and other factors on climate. Observe how animals and plants are adapted to climate and their environment. This lesson uses U.S. customary units.

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The Secret Service has arrested suspects accused of counterfeiting coins from the year 1915 valued at $50,000 each. The students act as a forensic scientist to investigate the crime scene and evidence. Students learn about the properties of matter to recreate the methods used to make the coins as evidence for the trial.

Explore the meaning of square roots using an area model. Use the side length of a square to find the square root of a decimal number or a whole number.

Multiply two decimals using a dynamic area model. On a grid, shade the region with width equal to one of the decimals and height equal to the other decimal and find the area of the region.

Examine the scatter plots for data related to weather at different latitudes. The Gizmo includes three different data sets, one with negative correlation, one positive, and one with no correlation. Compare the least squares best-fit line.

Movie reviewers rate movies on a scale of 0 to 10. Each movie comes with a set of reviews that can be changed by the user. The mean of a data set can be explored using a see-saw balance model. Students can also find the median, mode, and range of the data set.

Meet Spidro, a quirky critter with an appetite for algebraic expressions! As Spidro's adopted owner, it's your responsibility to feed him so that he grows into… whatever it is that a Spidro grows into. But be careful - Spidro is a picky eater who prefers his food to be as simple as possible. Use the commutative property, distributive property, and the other properties of addition and multiplication to put expressions in simplest (and tastiest) form.

Use a sonar on a boat to remotely measure the depth of an ocean at various locations. Describe multiple points on the ocean floor using their latitude, longitude, and depth. View maps of ocean depth in two and three dimensions, and use these maps to plot a safe route for ships to follow.

Measure the temperature on wet and dry bulb thermometers to determine relative humidity. Measure the dew point by cooling a bucket of water until condensation forms on the surface. See how the relative humidity and dew point change over the course of a day.

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People are getting sick after swimming in the Dogwood River. The student acts as a microbiologist to monitor bacteria populations, construct a model of how pollution enters the river, and design a sustainable solution to minimize human impacts on the Dogwood River watershed.

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Students acting as spacecraft navigation engineers apply their knowledge of Newton’s Third Law of Motion to launch a communication satellite into a stable orbit around Earth. When students learn of an impending collision with space debris, they must use their knowledge of gravitational forces and Newton’s Laws to correctly maneuver their satellite to a new, stable orbit.

Explore the graph of the exponential growth or decay function. Vary the initial amount and the rate of growth or decay and investigate the changes to the graph.

Experiment with a system of two lines representing a cat-and-mouse chase. Adjust the speeds of the cat and mouse and the head start of the mouse, and immediately see the effects on the graph and on the chase. Connect real-world meaning to slope, y-intercept, and the intersection of lines.

Adjust the constant of variation and explore how the graph of the direct or inverse variation function changes in response. Compare direct variation functions to inverse variation functions.

Fit a line to the data in a scatter plot using your own judgment. Then compare the least squares line of best fit.

Find the root of a quadratic using its graph or the quadratic formula. Explore the graph of the roots and the point of symmetry in the complex plane. Compare the axis of symmetry and graph of the quadratic in the real plane.

Make a biconditional statement from a given definition using word tiles. Use both symbolic form and standard English form.

Compare the graph of a linear function to its rule and to a table of its values. Change the function by dragging two points on the line. Examine how the rule and table change.

Release a lytic virus in a group of cells and observe how cells are infected over time and eventually destroyed. Data related to the number of healthy cells, infected cells, and viruses can be recorded over time to determine the time required for the virus to mature within a cell.

Digestion is a complex process, involving a wide variety of organs and chemicals that work together to break down food, absorb nutrients, and eliminate wastes. But have you ever wondered what would happen if some of those organs were eliminated, or if the sequence was changed? Can the digestive system be improved? Find out by designing your own digestive system with the Digestive System Gizmo.

Explore trends in atomic radius, ionization energy, and electron affinity in the periodic table. Measure atomic radius with a ruler and model ionization energy and electron affinity by exploring how easy it is to remove electrons and how strongly atoms attract additional electrons. View these properties on the whole periodic table to see how they vary across periods and down groups.

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Grow Wisconsin Fast Plants^® in a simulated lab environment. Explore the life cycles of these plants and how their growth is influenced by light, water, and crowding. Practice pollinating the plants using bee sticks, then observe the traits of the offspring plants. Use Punnett squares to model the inheritance of genes for stem color and leaf color for these plants.

FREE with no time limit!

In this follow-up to Fast Plants^® 1 - Growth and Genetics, continue to explore inheritance of traits in Wisconsin Fast Plants. Infer the genotype of a "mystery P2 parent" of a set of Fast Plants based on the traits of the P1, F1, and F2 plants. Then create designer Fast Plants by selectively breeding plants with desired traits.

Learn how DNA is compared to identify individuals. Identify the sections of DNA that tend to differ and use PCR to amplify these segments. Then use gel electrophoresis to create DNA profiles. Based on what you have learned, create your own DNA profiling test and use this test to analyze crime scene evidence.