Teachers are always looking for innovative ways to enhance and extend the core curriculum. Finding ways to foster curiosity and comprehension of complex concepts is critical. The ultimate goal is to develop a thirst for lifelong learning, and that demands more than one instructional strategy for all students.
Integrating STEM into the core curriculum with Gizmos
Look no further than Gizmos for research-proven instructional strategies. With a library featuring over 550 virtual, interactive STEM simulations crafted to meet the latest STEM education standards, Gizmos empowers educators in grades 3-12 to transform classrooms with engaging virtual labs that foster a deeper conceptual understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math subjects.
The role of STEM in today’s classrooms
In today’s fast-moving world, STEM education is more important than ever. STEM skills are necessary for every career path to varying degrees. STEM curriculum offers students the chance to develop 21st-century skills, such as critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. These skills are vital for academic and future career success.
Gizmos STEM Cases put students in the role of STEM professionals tasked with solving real-world problems. They deliver meaningful, phenomenon-based learning experiences that support science and engineering practices.
How Gizmos align with core curriculum and STEM standards
What about the core curriculum and standards alignment? No worries! Gizmos correlate to your academic standards. Gizmos correlate to Common Core State Standards for mathematics and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for science. Alignments with state standards and core curriculum and textbooks are all set, too.
Core curriculums and all-inclusive programs can only present so much information, touching on a wide variety of concepts. However, a broad spectrum of information isn’t always in-depth and may not allow for acceleration of topics. Gizmos simulations take learning to the next level by digging deeper into concepts.
Research-proven strategies to improve STEM instruction
It’s important to leverage research-proven teaching tools for instruction in education.
Independent research studies show how Gizmos interactive simulations power effective math and science instruction and impact student achievement. Multiple bodies of research demonstrate the effectiveness of Gizmos on student achievement.
What about teachers who use Gizmos? Feedback paints an even clearer picture of just how impactful Gizmos are for visual learning in STEM. In a recent survey, 98% of teachers said they would recommend Gizmos.
Agree that Gizmos is an easy tool for teachers to use
Agree that Gizmos is an easy tool for students to use
Agree that Gizmos made lesson planning easier
Agree that Gizmos helped them meet teaching goals
Would recommend Gizmos to their colleagues
Survey Results from Teachers
Supporting science and math learning with targeted instruction
Bridging theory and practice with STEM concepts can be tricky in the classroom. Many are unobservable, making investigations difficult. Gizmos bring concepts to life. With the power to ask questions, see results, and draw conclusions, students learn a topic's what and why. The interactive simulations allow students to visualize complex scientific phenomena and see the impact of changing variables in real-time.
Gizmos: A supplementary tool that adds value
Supporting STEM instruction often means adding labs. Physical labs require a lot from teachers– pre-preparation, classroom space, expenses, clean-up, and patience. A single class period may not be enough time to complete the entire lab. Then, there are the costs of supplies that drain a science budget.
Gizmos take the stress out of labs. The STEM simulations deliver real-world labwork with in-depth activities for observation, exploration, and application of new concepts—no messy labs to clean or worries about planning make-up activities for absent students.
Enhancing learning through customizable teaching materials
It’s easy for teachers to customize Gizmos materials to meet curriculum and standards needs. Guide lessons and questioning with students through Student Exploration Sheets that are fully customizable (available in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and PDF formats). There are so many ways to make Gizmos enhance any classroom.
- Extensive teacher resources
- On-demand professional development
- Instant insights to manage student progress
- Built-in assessments
- Accessibility features
The difference between demonstration and simulation in learning
While both demonstrations and simulations allow students to see theories in action, only one allows them to interact with concepts and procedures. With teachers in the lead role of demonstrations, students have more passive tasks of observation and feedback.
Adding simulations, like Gizmos, to STEM teaching strategies immerses students in the learning process through interactive practice to solve problems or work through complex concepts.
The long-term value of using Gizmos in the classroom
When students have opportunities to make abstract concepts tangible and interactive, curiosity, motivation, and engagement follow. Gizmos is a supplementary tool that allows equitable access to learning experiences by removing barriers to physical labs, such as space, limited materials, insufficient budgets, time limitations, and safety constraints. With Gizmos, teachers can deliver comprehensive lessons of complex content in efficient, research-based ways that are also cost-effective.
Why Gizmos is the ideal supplementary program for STEM education
Teachers looking for evidence-based ways to improve science learning and improve math instruction can find the resources they need with Gizmos. Through immersive online labs and student-centered, inquiry-based activities, students discover their STEM potential.
With options from elementary, middle, and high school levels, including Advanced Placement (AP) courses, there’s a Gizmo for every topic, making integration easy. Quite simply, improving STEM curriculum is easier than ever with Gizmos.
Are you ready to add such a powerful supplementary program to your teaching strategies? Take a free trial today.