Every Gizmo comes with lesson plans and worksheets to make incorporating them into your class simple and effective. Whether you’re discussing osmosis, cell division, or organelle functions; diagramming animal or plant cells; or teaching 5th grade or 12th, there’s a Gizmo for every biology lab and lesson.
With Gizmos, students don’t just act like scientists. They are.
Select sample cells from a plant or animal and place the cells on a microscope to look inside the cells. Information about their common structures is provided (and the structures are highlighted), but there are many different structures to be found as students move the microscope slide.
Begin with a single cell and watch as mitosis and cell division occurs. Cells go through interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, and cytokinesis. Control the length of the cell cycle, and record data related to the number of cells present and their current phase.
Explore the processes of photosynthesis and respiration that occur within plant cells. The cyclical nature of the two processes can be constructed visually, and the photosynthesis and respiration equations can be balanced in descriptive and numerical formats.
Adjust the concentration of a solute on either side of a membrane in a cell and observe the system as it adjusts to the conditions through osmosis. The initial concentration of the solute can be manipulated, along with the volume of the cell.
“Many of the Gizmos fit into the current biology curriculum. Population, cell division, blood circulation, disease spread, these students do not see these events in real life. They read about them and hear about them in class, but to actually put an interactive activity to these topics, it helps them understand what is going on and makes it real. A student commented to me after a major test that he remembered how to answer a particular question because he remembered seeing it on the ExploreLearning site.”
—Biology Teacher, High SchoolHillsborough County School District, FL
“Within my classroom I use Gizmos to supplement classroom instruction and to introduce topics. I enjoy using Gizmos for concepts where labs would be difficult, such as cell division. This allows students to work with these topics, and gain a deeper understanding. Gizmos allow students to work with technology and to investigate science topics. The investigation will help with the student's science inquiry, and to build an understanding of the concept.”
—Science Teacher, Middle SchoolYadkin County Public Schools, NC
