Christina Sweeney teaches fourth- and fifth-grade math and science in public schools in Saint Louis, MO. She’s been using Gizmos for three years—ever since the district purchased the program in 2017.
Sweeney says she loves using Gizmos because, “Gizmos allows classes to simulate experiments without materials, prep, clean-up, or safety concerns. I love that the exploration guide documents are customizable so I can select which activities to do with my class and print them or share them electronically. The structure of the lesson allows students to activate prior knowledge and ‘play’ with the Gizmo before exploring the activity’s testable questions.”
Sweeney has a number of favorite Gizmos, as do her students—“We recently used Gravity Pitch to explore Earth’s gravitational force, and many of the kids cited that as their favorite. Growing Plants is an awesome tool for teaching students about fair tests at the beginning of the year because growing plants is a familiar concept.
“But my favorite Gizmo is mineral identification. Not only does this simulation allow us to test minerals without materials like streak plates or acid—or the numerous minerals—but the lesson is also exciting because it is structured as a mystery and a challenge. Mineral Identification was engaging and helped us learn about testable properties of matter this year.”
Her students are also fans of Gizmos, saying, “Gizmos helps you do things that you can’t do in real life. We couldn’t stand on a tower and test Gravity Pitch to learn about gravity.”
Justis and Cloee concur, explaining that “Gizmos helps us answer questions about the world. Why is gravity so strong? Why does gravity pull things toward Earth?”
“You are learning and having fun at the same time. All of the Gizmos are my favorite.”
As she mentioned, Sweeney appreciates how Gizmos eliminate the need for materials, and also that they minimize safety concerns. “Circuit Builder allowed my students to test the electrical conductivity of materials without possible human error, like not attaching a wire to a conductor properly.”
“The vocabulary in all of them is awesome too,” she continues. “The kids, 60% which are English Language Learners, were comfortable using ‘velocity’ and ‘trajectory’ during Gravity Pitch.
Through the assistance of Donors Choose, Sweeney’s classroom recently received a wireless mouse. While doing guided practice with Gizmos, students are able to manipulate the simulation on the classroom Promethean board from wherever they are sitting. According to Sweeney, the wireless mouse has increased the engagement factor of Gizmos beyond one-to-one devices!
Sweeney also says that other teachers at her school also appreciate how accessible investigations are in the classroom. “It is especially helpful for the science/engineering practice ‘develop and use models’ and to explore the cross-cutting concept ‘scale and proportion.’ The factor of being able to differentiate instruction with Gizmos is also awesome!”
Christina Sweeney has been a teacher for six years, and currently teaches fourth- and fifth-grade math and science in St. Louis Public Schools.