Lesson Planning with Gizmos for Whole Group Instruction
An ExploreLearning Article
Research has shown that effective use of simulations in whole-class instruction significantly improves student understanding in science (Smetana, 2008). In a series of three articles, we’ll highlight whole-group instruction with Gizmos, including best-practice strategies for maximizing student engagement and achievement.
Let's begin with an exploration of lesson planning with Gizmos through resource links and a video from our Professional Development team. You'll find ways to pull the best whole-class instructional sequence from the Gizmo lesson materials to meet your needs. In the second article, we’ll focus on making your Gizmo lessons more student-centric—even when you have a single computer in your classroom–and discuss strategies for engaging all students in the classroom in your whole-class lessons. Finally, our third article takes a look at the role of seatwork and homework, wrapping up the series with a discussion of what comes next — instruction beyond the whole group.
Lesson Planning with Gizmos
我们都知道,故意pre和认真的教训paration can separate an okay lesson from one that is vibrant and effective. But teachers don’t have hours to review materials and make decisions about instructional strategies. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day!
To help busy teachers get the most out of their lessons,ExploreLearning Gizmosprovide a suite of materials to assist in streamlining the preparation process. For an example of how a teacher would plan a lesson, check out the 10-minute video below, that a member of the Professional Development team created with theGizmo Measuring Motion. Watch as she “thinks out loud” during the planning and you look at the finished whole-class instruction script for more details.
When using whole-class instruction with Gizmos, you want to make sure that you use standard classroom best practices for whole-class instruction. Be sure to “chunk” your material in short segments. This will give your students lots of opportunities to be active participants. They can do so either by volunteering, or by using participation techniques like Think-Pair-Share, QuickWrites, and individual response systems (electronic or whiteboard).
Design your questions ahead of time within a whole-class instruction script.You will want to include questions across all six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy (a classification of objections and skills that teachers set for their students), scaffolding as you progress through the lesson. Be sure to identify formative instruction strategies that you will use to see how students are doing as they work to master the standard(s).
The important steps to follow as you plan your Gizmo lesson:
- Identify the standards you are teaching and select an appropriate Gizmo.
- Preview the Gizmo while referencing the Student Exploration Sheet Answer Key.
- Decide how you will use the Gizmo to address the standard(s). Does the Gizmo make a good introduction to engage the student and allow them to construct meaning for themselves? Or would you rather use the Gizmo to explain the concept and provide students with practice?
- Utilize the Student Exploration Sheet, Teacher Guide, and Vocabulary Sheet to plan the whole-class instruction script. Remember, each of these is easily customizable to meet the individual needs of all your students.