Lesson Materials

All modern Gizmos have supporting curriculum documents that we call Lesson Materials. Some have just one document, an Exploration Guide. Others feature a set of four documents: a Teacher Guide, a Student Exploration Sheet, an Answer Key to the Exploration Sheet, and a Vocabulary Sheet.

Accessing the Lesson Materials

  1. If the Gizmo has been assigned to a class, you can go to that class tab and find the Gizmo's entry on the Gizmo List. Alternatively, you can search or browse for the Gizmo you want.
    A Gizmo Listing is shown with the Lesson Info Link circled.
    Lesson Info Link
  2. Click the Lesson info link on the Gizmo Entry. This takes you to the Lesson info tab for the Gizmo.
    A screenshot of the lesson info page for a Gizmo
    Lesson Info Page
  3. Each available document is listed under the large LESSON MATERIALS heading.
  4. A sidewise triangle means there are multiple documents represented by a single heading, as in the Student Exploration Guide heading in the image above. Click the document name to hide or unhide these options.
  5. Click on the appropriate format to open the document in a separate window.

Lesson Materials Familiarization

All modern Gizmos have either a collection of coordinated materials (Exploration Sheet, Teacher Guide, Vocabulary Sheet, and Answer Key) or a single Exploration Guide intended as a self-contained resource.

The Student Exploration Sheet is a collection of short fill-in-the-blank activities. Each Exploration Sheet has an introductory sheet containing pre-activity questions and a familiarization activity with the Gizmo. After the introductory sheet, up to 3 activities are included. These modules each focus on a single idea and are designed to be independent of one another.

A compact information packet is provided for every elementary Gizmo. These Teacher Guides start by describing the basic learning objectives and vocabulary treated by the Student Exploration Sheet. Then they provide a suggested lesson plan, pertinent background information for the content, peripheral interdisciplinary information, and useful web resources.

A single-page Vocabulary Sheet listing the key terms students will encounter as they work through the Student Exploration is provided for each elementary Gizmo. A grade-appropriate definition is given for each term, and a few pieces of useful extra information is often provided as well.

An Exploration Guide provides a fairly long set of instructions and questions that is fully editable to fit your students' individual needs and time resources. Students are expected to answer questions on a separate piece of paper.

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