The best educational technology doesn’t just deliver content. It empowers students to think critically, collaborate, and take charge of their own learning. But what about teachers? Effective edtech can be a classroom game-changer, saving educators time while providing greater autonomy and newfound creativity to teach in the ways only they can.
At ExploreLearning, our mission is to ensure that every student becomes an engaged, confident learner while mastering critical math and science skills. That’s why our award-winning K-12 STEM solutions align with the ISTE Standards for Educators to help teachers leverage technology in meaningful ways.
How do ExploreLearning products align with ISTE Standards?
The ISTE Standards provide a framework for educators and school leaders to use technology to create “high-impact, sustainable, scalable, and equitable learning experiences.” For more than 20 years, these standards have provided competencies for learning, teaching, and leading with technology in schools worldwide.
At ExploreLearning, our products are built on research to support teacher agency as much as student agency. Our products—Gizmos, Reflex, Frax, and Science4Us—meet these standards not just in theory, but in practical, powerful ways that work in real classrooms. Whether you're a classroom teacher, instructional coach, or district leader, ExploreLearning’s trusted tools support the ISTE Standards to empower all educators to be learning designers, innovators, and decision-makers.
Separate ISTE Standards for students, teachers, educational leaders, and coaches provide helpful framing to better understand these practices in action. Let’s look at some examples of how ExploreLearning’s math and science programs align with these standards.
Empowering teachers as learning designers
Our standards-aligned tools are robust in design while still being highly flexible to meet each classroom’s unique needs. Our products grant teachers more autonomy and freedom rather than confining them to strict pacing guides or prescriptive pathways.
ISTE Standard | Description | ExploreLearning Example |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5.b Educator as a Designer | Design authentic learning activities that align with educational standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize learning. | Frax is built on the latest educational research to help students best develop a conceptual understanding of fractions. With engaging, narrative-driven missions, students develop a foundational understanding of concepts, which provides educators the space and freedom to design connected and authentic fractions learning experiences. |
| 3.3.a Empowering Leader | Empower educators to exercise professional agency, build teacher leadership skills, and pursue personalized professional learning. | Gizmos simulations put instructional control directly in educators’ hands. Gizmos can be used as a teacher-led resource hub, allowing educators to build professional confidence and become local content leaders. Instructional coaches and teacher leaders can model lesson adaptations, share student work, and collaborate around inquiry-based instruction with Gizmos. |
High-quality instructional materials (HQIM) are critical for supporting science and engineering practices in the classroom. Gizmos virtual labs encourage real-world problem-solving and provide teachers with a full suite of interactive inquiry-based simulations for grades 3-12 to support and enhance core curricula.
- Gizmos Simulations: A vast library of over 550 interactive math and science simulations and virtual labs designed for flexibility and open-ended exploration. Each Gizmo comes with pre-made and customizable supplementary lesson materials that teachers can adapt or use as-is, depending on their lesson goals.
- Gizmos STEM Cases: Immerse students in real-world, in-depth case studies that allow them to solve problems from the lens of a STEM professional.
- Gizmos Investigations: Coming fall 2025, new Gizmos Investigations facilitate deeper scientific sensemaking practices by leveraging Gizmos within engaging, ready-made investigations driven by student inquiry.
No matter a teacher’s experience level or subject-matter expertise, Gizmos empower them to be the designers and drivers of their own math and science lessons as they combine Gizmos Simulations, STEM Cases, and Investigations to teach concepts. Unlike scripted or fixed curriculum, Gizmos meet the desire for professional teacher agency while still providing strong HQIM aligned with learning standards.
Protecting student data with trusted edtech
ExploreLearning solutions also support ISTE Standard 3.4.c. related to student privacy. Our team takes information security seriously and works proactively to ensure our resources are built with high-standard data management security measures. ExploreLearning earned ISO 27001:2013 certification in 2024.
Transforming teaching and professional growth
The ISTE Standards for teachers emphasize professional empowerment, collaboration with peers, and ongoing learning to propel students' learning. Reflex, Frax, Gizmos, and Science4Us help teachers enhance their craft with tools that keep students at the center.
ISTE Standard | Description | ExploreLearning Example |
|---|---|---|
| 2.6.a Educator as a Facilitator | Foster a culture where students take ownership of their learning goals and outcomes in both independent and group settings. | The Reflex Green Light motivates students and allows them to monitor and celebrate their individual math fact fluency progress. |
| 2.7.a Educator as an Analyst | Provide alternative ways for students to demonstrate competency and reflect on their learning using technology. | Built-in dashboards provide teachers with actionable insights to track student progress and inform instruction. |
| 4.2.b Connected Learner | Actively participate in professional learning networks to enhance coaching practice and keep current with emerging technology and innovations in pedagogy and the learning sciences. | ExploreLearning offers professional development, Virtual Learning Communities, and the Collab Crew to foster professional growth. |
Enhancing instruction with flexible tools
The innate flexibility of ExploreLearning products allows teachers to empower their students as they facilitate instruction and analyze results. Educators might opt to use the game-based Reflex (for math fact fluency) or Frax (for fractions) during math centers, independent work stations, or during free time. Both programs also include reporting tools to monitor progress so teachers can adjust instruction or provide intervention as needed.
Gizmos offer endless opportunities for flexible, inquiry-based learning. And with Science4Us, teachers can infuse interactive science instruction in short five-to-ten minute blocks, ideal for those packed early childhood classroom schedules.
High-quality professional development opportunities
ExploreLearning’s professional development experiences go beyond our products, aiming to support teachers in identifying and integrating best practices in overall instruction. Our goal is to help teachers gain a deeper understanding of high-quality, research-based math and science instruction and build their own skills to create the best learning experiences for all students.
We offer on-demand, live, and onsite workshops to meet each school’s unique needs, as well as Virtual Learning Communities, an Educator Resource Hub, and an AI chatbot.
Enhance student success with interactive tools
ExploreLearning’s learning platforms allow students to take an active role in their learning.
ISTE Standard | Description | ExploreLearning Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1.c Empowered Learner | Use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways. | In Reflex, students receive immediate feedback, guiding them to math fact mastery at their own pace. |
| 1.3.d Knowledge Constructor | Build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories, and pursuing answers and solutions. | With Gizmos STEM Cases, students step into the shoes of a STEM professional to solve real-world problems. |
Support student problem-solving skills with technology
Teachers can incorporate the game-based Reflex and Frax for adaptive, student-driven math practice. For example, as students progress through carefully scaffolded Frax missions, they receive individualized feedback and practice at their unique levels of understanding. Students problem-solve with targeted support to reach new milestones at their own pace.
With Gizmos, students demonstrate learning in various ways as they collect data, capture and compare results, make predictions, and share their findings with others.
Build student knowledge by exploring real-world examples
Gizmos STEM Cases empower students as they uncover real-life scenarios and actively demonstrate their understanding of STEM concepts. For instance, in the Tackling Concussions STEM Case, students act as material scientists and use their knowledge of Newton’s First and Second Laws of Motion to investigate new helmet padding materials.
Try ExploreLearning products and join us at ISTE!
ExploreLearning products are more than tools—they’re partners in transforming teaching and learning. Gizmos, Reflex, Frax, and Science4Us give educators the support they need to meet the ISTE Standards, and students the skills they need to become creative communicators, knowledge constructors, and empowered lifelong learners.
Ready to integrate the ISTE Standards in your classroom? Experience the difference today with a free classroom trial.
Are you going to the ISTELive 25 conference in San Antonio?
June 29 - July 2, 2025
Stop by booth #2643 to check out ExploreLearning solutions for yourself (and grab some free swag)!
