Glenda Husser, a STEM Curriculum Facilitator in Tangipahoa Parish School System, brings more than three decades of experience to her district in Amite, Louisiana, supporting K–12 science instruction across multiple grade levels. “I have worked in this district for 33 years. Now, I'm fortunate enough to work with district teachers to provide support with science implementation,” said Glenda.
Working alongside her is Christina Verbene, a High School Instructional Technology Facilitator who spent 20 years in the classroom. Together, they’ve helped expand the use of Gizmos virtual simulations across their district, from high school to middle school classrooms, with a Science Success Grant.
Discovering Gizmos and the Science Success Grant
For Christina, the journey with Gizmos started in her classroom. “I discovered Gizmos while I was in the classroom, during COVID, when we weren’t able to do hands-on science labs. Gizmos were a really good way for the students to still get that hands-on experience virtually.p
After successfully piloting Gizmos with her students, Christina brought the idea to her district. Working alongside Glenda, they began supporting more teachers and expanding Gizmos access across the Tangipahoa Parish School System. “Our district is very data-driven. When I could show the usage and show student engagement, then it spoke for itself,” said Glenda.
Applying for the Gizmos Science Success Grant
While teachers and students were already using Gizmos at the high school level, expanding to middle school required both funding and proof of impact. That’s when Glenda and Christina learned about the Science Success Grant through their ExploreLearning contacts. The Science Success Grant program empowers districts to improve teaching and learning with Gizmos, pairing hands-on support with meaningful professional development.
“I was fortunate enough to have representatives that we were working with, and they explained more about the Science Success Grant,” said Glenda. “I was very interested in it, because I knew if I could get my middle school teachers involved, then I could have the data to show that they were using it. Then I would have test scores increase, and then the district would use that data to continue to support Gizmos not only for our high school but also for our middle schools.”
Glenda and Christina saw the grant as a low-risk way to test and scale their efforts, while also setting up younger students for future success. “I knew that if I could get the middle school teachers hooked and have the science students in middle school practicing it, then when they get to high school, they'll have a better opportunity to go deeper and do some of the STEM Cases and some of the things that maybe the high school teachers hadn't gotten to because [Gizmos] were the first introduction at the high school level,” said Glenda.
Getting started with the Science Success Grant
Glenda and Christina found the Science Success Grant application and onboarding process to be manageable and teacher-friendly. “It was a very smooth transition… the people at Gizmos were very helpful,” said Glenda.
Instead of a heavy lift, the focus was on implementation and collaboration. Christina and Glenda’s tag-team approach helped build momentum quickly, and teacher buy-in with Gizmos followed. “The middle school teachers actually loved it and were more invested than some of the high school teachers. We had great data to show that our middle school teachers and students were users and loved it,” said Glenda.
Included professional learning and support
Strong support helped ensure successful implementation during the grant period. Tia Brown, Solutions Manager, regularly provided detailed Gizmos usage reports that broke down teacher and student activity by school, giving the district leaders clear visibility into implementation. These insights helped Glenda and Christina track engagement, identify where additional support was needed, and build a strong case for continued investment in Gizmos.
“Tia was a great resource. She was very easy to work with, and she sent reports which were very instrumental in me being able to show the district… that our teachers were utilizing Gizmos.” -Glenda Husser, STEM Curriculum Facilitator
The Science Success Grant also includes on-site and digital professional development opportunities. Glenda and Christina also took a proactive approach to this professional learning. Before formal training sessions, they visited schools and introduced teachers to Gizmos so teachers would be ready on day one. “It always helps when a teacher can be at a PD session and then immediately be able to go and use it in the classroom,” said Christina.
Watch the full interview with Glenda and Christina!
Implementing Gizmos across middle and high school classrooms
Across both middle and high school, the focus was on integrating Gizmos in ways that fit naturally into teachers’ existing instruction rather than adding extra work.
Expanding into middle school
Introducing Gizmos to middle schools through the Science Success Grant required thoughtful implementation. Teachers had different styles and varying access to lab resources, which opened a unique opportunity for Gizmos. “In our middle schools, we don’t have traditional labs… so this allowed them the opportunity to do real labs with their students,” explained Glenda.
This approach increased access and engagement, giving students hands-on experiences even without physical materials. From a district perspective, flexibility mattered most. Gizmos allowed teachers to support small groups while others worked independently, making it easier to meet a range of student needs during class time.
Supporting flexible instructional needs
Teachers also quickly embraced the flexibility of Gizmos. Christina highlighted how Gizmos supports differentiation with a variety of supplementary materials that can be edited to fit students’ needs. Christina and Glenda also found that middle school teachers liked being able to use built-in assessment features in Gizmos to monitor student progress.
“They also like that the students could work at their own pace,” said Glenda. “It also gave them an opportunity to take a grade.”
Measuring the impact of Gizmos: Student engagement, usage, and growth
The district used multiple data points to track success with Gizmos, including teacher usage, student logins, and assessment performance. “We began to see an increase in student logins… and we still are today,” said Glenda.
They also connected usage to student outcomes. Glenda and Christina saw measurable growth on state Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) assessments and interim tests, which they believe is strongly tied to consistent Gizmos use.
“We've also looked at their LEAP scores, and we look at their progress monitoring that we use in the district. We have seen some growth. That's where we really were able to push the district and say, ‘This is what we feel is a direct correlation to that growth.’”
—Glenda Husser, STEM Curriculum Facilitator
Gizmos bring real-world science connections
One of the biggest benefits of Gizmos is how they help students apply their learning beyond the textbook. “It’s the application to the real world,” said Christina. “So many times we teach the standards, and sometimes the kids can't transfer that information to something else.”
The educators noted that while students may understand standards in isolation, transferring that knowledge can be challenging. Gizmos help bridge that gap by presenting concepts in new contexts and real-world scenarios. They also give students the chance to think and work like scientists: collecting data, analyzing results, and comparing virtual experiments to real-world outcomes.
“Students can be like scientists and compare the virtual data with the real-world data. It gives them that interaction to really look at data, interpret data, and make graphs, which aligns with the standards for our state testing. That is an area that really helps them.”
—Christina Verbene, High School Instructional Technology Facilitator
Strengthening data analysis skills
In addition to engagement, the district saw growth in key science skills, especially data analysis.
“One of the things that has always been one of our weaknesses is analyzing and interpreting graphs. Gizmos give us lots of practice in that area,” said Glenda.
Gizmos provide repeated, structured opportunities for students to work with graphs, charts, and data sets. At the same time, the simulations reinforce literacy and critical thinking by requiring students to read directions carefully, interpret results, and solve problems independently.
Why district science leaders recommend Gizmos
Both leaders emphasized that Gizmos goes beyond traditional simulations. “It’s the resources,” said Christina. “The student exploration sheets, lesson plans, interactive quizzes… other simulations don’t have that.”
Glenda added that alignment with standards was key. “It’s very important for our district for it to be aligned with our standards. If it’s not aligned, it’s not going to help us.” This combination of alignment, flexibility, and built-in support make Gizmos a valuable tool for their teachers and students. Together, these features allow teachers to differentiate instruction, scaffold learning, and confidently integrate Gizmos into their curriculum.
The bigger impact on teaching and learning
At its core, the Science Success Grant isn’t solely about introducing new technology. It’s about supporting teachers and improving student experiences in science. “We want them working smarter, not harder,” said Glenda. “And we feel like Gizmos helps them do that.”
The ultimate reward comes from supporting teachers and seeing the impact in classrooms. “We get excited when we go into classrooms, and we see that something that we’ve helped support them with is then implemented. We’re definitely very big advocates for Gizmos and for anything that really improves our students’ love for science and helps them understand science better,” said Glenda.
By combining strategic implementation, strong professional development, and ongoing data analysis, Tangipahoa Parish School System successfully scaled Gizmos across grade levels, helping teachers and students engage more deeply with science.
Get started with Gizmos
Interested in bringing Gizmos to your district? Contact our team to learn more about the Science Success Grant and how to get started. Or explore Gizmos today and see how interactive science simulations can support engagement, understanding, and student success.