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.