Online program for Math and Science
I’ve observed Gizmos at various NSTA conferences, yet I never had to time to complete a lesson. I signed up for the 30-day free trial as a teacher (6-8 grade) to see what Gizmos fully offered.  Gizmos offers interactive simulations allowing students to manipulate the lesson, plus experiment and extend the lesson to develop a better, intuitive understanding of math and science material.

Gizmos offers over 450 interactive simuations teaching students the following subject matter:

MATH SUBJECT MATTER
Grade 3-5
o Number & Operations
o Algebra
o Geometry
o Measurement
o Data Analysis & Probability

Grade 6-8
o Number & operations
o Algebra
o Geometry
o Measurement
o Data analysis & probability

Grade 9-12
o Number & operations
o Algebra
o Geometry
o Measurement
o Data analysis & probability

College
o Developmental math
o College Alg / Precalculus

SCIENCE SUBJECT MATTER
Grade 3-5
o Earth and space science
o Life science
o Physical science
o Measurement skills
o Scientific method

Grade 6-8
o Earth and space science
o Life science
o Physical science

Grade 9-12
o Earth and space science
o Biology
o Chemistry
o Physics

What Gizmos Offers
Home schooling groups, teachers and administrators can create a class, include students or have students include themselves, identify topics, state standards, and can correlate to over 200 textbooks on different strand topics. When a topic is chosen, various lesson simulations can be selected.

Select a Gizmo on one subtopic, and if unsure how to proceed, click on the tutorial video in the left hand column. Lessons provide learning objectives, lesson material, teacher guide, vocabulary and/or assessment questions (both in PDF and Word doc).

The lessons teach students visually, and in written format. For instance, in a fractions simulation students can see why 2/3 is bigger than 3/5, not only with the problem worked out but visually. Extend the problem to see visually, written out and by number line why 2/3 is bigger with a least common denominator (LCD) problem. Students and teachers can also take a snapshot of their work.

Gets the Lesson Across
I jumped around, and tested a number of lessons (Astronomy: Reasons For the Seasons), Cell Biology, Fractions, and Geometry.

Gizmos gives students and teachers immediate feedback, provides hands-on lessons through the computer, and is inquiry based. Labs are data driven, and allows students to see direct results manipulating the lesson. Once a teacher has established a class, students can sign in to work on an assignment, review, or work ahead. Special education students and ESOL students benefit from working at their own pace, or with the video tutorial to guide them.

Online training is available, and from the various lessons I reviewed, provides tutorial videos. Try the free 30-day trial, and see if your school, or home schooling program would benefit.

System Requirements: Mac OS X 9.2; Windows 98; Web based browser (Internet Explorer 6, Safari 1.2, Firefox 1.5); Shockwave 8.5 (free @ Adobe Shockwave), Adobe Flash 9.0 (free @ Adobe Flash), 56 K dial-up or Broadband width
Contact: www.ExploreLearning.com
Cost: No pricing online; contact Explore Learning @ Purchasing Info

Subject Matter: Science

Grades: Kindergarten through Fifth Grade

Well Designed Online Curriculum
Learning.com offers Aha!Science and Aha!Math.  For grades K-5, Aha!Science provides good science coverage on:

• Earth and Space
• Physical
• Life

For many elementary teachers, science isn’t something they’ve been required to teach in classrooms.  Many states now require science testing in 5th grade, with teachers scrambling for science content.

Learning.com offers an online well organized, conceptual program for teachers and students.  With a modular design, teachers have multiple choices how to present material to the whole class, or in small groups.  Or students can go online, and learn self-paced.

What’s Offered
Learning.com organizes its science modules into:

• Instruction
• Lessons
• Games
• Simulations
• Activities
• Journals
• Quizzes

The short videos are colorful, with good detail helping to reinforce various topics.  Journaling offers a cross-curriculum tool, helping students to understand the scientific method.

There are many different programs to explore and incorporate, but take a look at Aha!Science.  It’s obvious the material was well thought out, and easy to incorporate into the classroom.

System Requirements: Mac OS X; Windows 98/2000; web browser (Internet Explorer 6.0, Safari 2.0, Mozilla Firefox 1.0); Adobe Flash 7.0; Adobe Reader 7.0, Bandwidth of 64 kb/s per student
Contact: Learning.com
Cost: $120 for Starter Kits w/Teacher Account (1-10 Students); $60 for Expanson Pack (5 Extra Students, includes Starter Kits); Adaptive Curriculum for Aha!Math (6-8th grade) and EasyTech (K-5th and 6-8th grades) link to Learning.com Store.

Subject Matter:Helping educators, mentors and parents build better relationships between girls and science/math.
Grades: Fourth to High School

Pink Power
I received this information card with a bubbling chemistry flask promoting “The Girl Solution”, and sponsored by BrainCake.org. Hmmm…interesting, so I checked it out. If parents, mentors and teachers want to engage, or keep girls interested in science, they have to start before fourth grade. This program is one opportunity to let young ladies know math and science is pretty cool.

Click on www.Braincake.org. Sponsored by the Carnegie Science Center, BrainCake.org is a partnership to change our cultural perspective that “girls don’t get math and science”. From the lack of media promoting women in math and science and negative stereotypes (think thin stick models), our society doesn’t encourage girls to venture forth to discover math and science careers.

Losing Interest Starts in 4th Grade
I saw this with my daughter’s friends. In 3rd grade, science was cool, and the girls were equal with boys. By 4th grade, other interests start crowding in (fashion, clothes, body changes, social clicks, popularity). From 4th to 12th grade, the percentage of girls who like science drops from 66% to 48% (quote from BrainCake.org).

BrainCake.org goal is to “engage educate, and embrace girls as architects of change”. How are they going to do this? Well, check out what the website offers:

• DigiGirlz offers an overnight high-tech camp for girls at the Carnegie Science Center
• Win money through “Green for Your Dreams”, an online quiz about a woman scientist
• Click! An urban science adventure for middle school girls
• Feed Your Head offers a smorgasborg of games, experiments, career info, homework help, and biographies about women in math, science and technology

And there’s much more offered on the site, so go explore. Girls 11-17 can sign up, get involved in projects plus learn how math and science are not boring!  Parents and teens can get more involved, and purchase the Can*TEEN kit for $39.95.

It’s a pretty cool site, and I’d recommend any parent, mentor or teacher to check out the website.

System Requirements: Web based browser
Contact: Braincake.org
Cost: Free, donations requested. Can*TEEN kit cost $39.95

Offering Visual Quizzes Online
Many elementary schools will be winding up to start teaching students different topics in science. President Obama wants our nation to improve math and science scores. If we, as parents, teachers, administrative and relatives don’t encourage their interest in science before the 4th grade, we’re sunk (or almost). After 4th grade, puberty hits in, and our daughters and sons almost become different species. Biology, however, becomes a very interesting topic, especially with the opposite sex…and their symbiotic relationships with friends, clothes, sports, etc.

ScienceScore.com offers visual quizzes on a wide variety of topics to help teach and encourage students.  If students correctly answer the questions, they earn points which can be exchanged to clothes to dress their avatar, decorate their cave, etc. We live in a digital world, and angling for a student’s interest with their nose in a computer game is no easy task.

What Is Offered
ScienceScore.com offers these quizzes online for free. No CDs, DVDs, or membership required.  They also provide Did You Know? questions with interesting information.  However, they do offer a membership fee for Chat, to receive thousands of different quizzes and new weekly questions, access to interactive games, dressing up the mascot “Poskey”, decorating their own caves, and purchasing new virtual animals.   “Edutainment” is starting to achieve higher levels.

Demos and information links are offered, so check those out, and try a few quizzes. If students don’t know the answers, there is educational material to help out.

Standards
Quizzes cover 100% material for standards in the Singapore school system, plus 70% for U.S. and English science standards. Material is written in English, however, being online ScienceScore.com is available for young minds all over the globe.

Runs On Windows Operating System
Right now ScienceScore.com quizzes are accessible on Windows. I couldn’t open any quizzes on my Mac, but that’s suppose to change. The system does operate on Firefox and Safari.

What I observed from the demos were simple, colorful answers providing creative quizzes to both visual and tactile learners the capability to understand, and enjoy science. Hey, sometimes we just have to show students a new site, let themselves get hooked and off they go. With science, it’s pretty easy to find interesting material!

System Requirements: Web based browser, Quizzes on Windows, hopefully soon it will be available for Macs
Contact: ScienceScore.com
Cost: Free, extra quizzes must sign up for Membership: $20/month; $96 for six months; $144 for one year

Ruminate on Education I’m probably not the only educator that has stumbled onto this site. It’s hosted by Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D. Dr. McCleod is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Educational Administration program at Iowa State University. He also is the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators. He’s also co-creator of the popular video, Did You Know? (Shift Happens).

Help Wanted – The Push for Science, Math….(fill in the blank)
Right now Dr. McCleod is organizing a list of relevant blogs on various education topics. Here’s the link: Help Wanted: The Push Begins.

If you can help, please do so.

Subject: Free multi-media website portal offering podcasts, short videos, audio, articles, and pictures on multiple science topics
Grades:All ages

Quality Science Media
In April, 2009 National Science Foundation (NSF) launched their beta version of Science 360. Science 360’s focus is to be a portal for quality science videos, short articles, audio, daily podcasts, and pictures. No need to cut science out of the school budget. It’s readily available at this portal.

The idea is to bring “the most interesting, coolest science and engineering that’s out there, and trying to make it available through this portal site”.

I clicked on a few videos and television casts. They range from 1.5 to 5 minutes long. The video loads up quickly, and the content is very interesting.

Nine Categories
Categories range from Earth & Environment, Astronomy & Space, Mathematics, Physics, etc.

Here are few topics in the various categories:

Microscopes – you can really discover what a seals eat with microscopes? Looking at seal poop? NOAA will be offering their new MicroWorld series.
Need to learn about speed and G force? Who better to discuss G force effects than a Nascar driver.
Planetary exploration on different planets? We can do that right here designing experiments before we attempt Mars.
Learning about sound? Fast can be loud, especially when breaks are squealing and mufflers are roaring.
Biofuel – it’s more than just about corn. Got beets, algae, or wood? This material can all be processed into “green gas”.

Three Viewer Functions
To make content accessible, NSF allows the viewer to:

• Listen to that podcast that day,

• Put podcast into a “content portfolio” similar to Pandora and listen to different broadcasts at your leisure, and

• Download those podcasts. “It’s a one-click download, so we want to make it as simple as possible, and we also want to honor our partnerships with others so that it build traffic on their site as well.”

Still Working Out Some Bugs
Since the website is still in beta, there are a few bugs to work out (About Us and Contact us button weren’t working, category pictures didn’t pop up). Yet, the content is uploaded, accessible and interesting. With support by NSF, the material is quality.

Here’s an article for additional information: NSF Set to Provide Cool Science Online.

And one from NSF: NSF
Teams with NASCAR to Reveal “The Science of Speed”.

System Requirements: Web based browser
Contact: www.Science360.gov
Cost: Free

Subject Matter: Astronomy
Grades: Upper Elementary to Middle School

Teen Star Gazing
Leave it Simulation Curriculum to create another award winning astronomy software and educational study guide. Many U.S.A. and Canadian school systems are including astronomy in their middle and high school science curriculum. Teachers, parents and students can easily master Starry Nights Middle School to view the night sky.

An easy-to-understand Quick Start study guide and lesson plans provide good tutorial material before tackling more challenging material. Lesson plans, rubrics and assessments are provided online and  in the workbook.  I’ve worked with different Starry Night programs, and they never disappoint me.  Listed below are main points Starry Night emphasizes for this program.

Starry Night Middle School provides:

• Lessons plans correlated to state and national standards that meet curriculum needs
• Accurate visualizations and simulations that allow students to make precise observations of Moon phases, motions of the Sun and planets and much more
• Interactive computer exercises and hands-on activities that encourage questioning, experimentation and exploration and accommodate diverse learning styles
• Pre- and post-assessment resources with recommendations for improved student performance
• Flexible teaching models for easy adaptation to pacing and classroom needs
• Opportunities to develop key skills: observation, data collection, analytical thinking and discovery
• Extensions that connect to topics in math, physics, language arts, social studies and technology

Starry Night Middle School is:

• US and Canadian curriculum specific
• Full of pre-tested activities and exercises
• Designed specifically for middle school students
• Hands-on and interactive
• Fun and simple to use

Modular and easy-to-use solution comes complete with:

• 28 detailed lesson plans
• Interactive computer exercises
• Hands-on classroom activities
• Conceptual background for teachers
• Discussion questions
• Assessment tests and answer keys
• Resource lists
• Appendices
• Glossary of astronomical terms

New features highlight the latest theories and address classroom needs:

• 4 lesson plans, focused on the reclassification of Pluto, unmanned space exploration, astrology and black holes
• Math and observing extensions for most lessons
• Revised and expanded assessment resources
  • Pre-assessment Idea Diagrams and Concept Maps identify pre-conceptions
  • Thinking Grids and Contrast and Compare charts develop logical and critical thinking skills
  • Drawing Completion activities and KWL charts assess student understanding
  • Easy-to-use Scoring Rubric evaluate learning of science content and process
• Expanded library of astronomy simulations
• Lesson Plans at a Glance help you choose the lesson plans that best fit your curriculum requirement
• QuickStart Guide for teachers new to astronomy or using Starry Night for the first time

Starry Night provides these simulations:

• Travel through time from 4713 BC to 9999 AD
• Visit 2.5 million stars
• View exclusive Tully database and explore 13,000 deep space objects of the NGC-IC catalog
• Fly through the universe in spaceship mode to experience the vastness of space
• Plan observing sessions using Events Finder full of upcoming astronomical events
• Turn on custom constellation illustrations to view the animals and people from Greek and Roman mythology.

Astronomy  has never been so easy!

System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3.9; Windows XP
Contact: StarryNightEducation.com
Cost: $199.95; contact for educational license fees