What’s a Gizmos STEM Case? | ExploreLearning Gizmos

With interactive STEM Cases, science gets real!

STEM Cases put students in the role of STEM professionals tasked with solving real-world problems. Included as part of Gizmos, the interactive online case studies let students form and test ideas to find solutions — just like real scientists. Support students as they build a life-long skill set in STEM, opening the doors to countless opportunities.

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Featured STEM Cases

Enzymes

As a veterinary technician, students learn about enzymes to help a dog that has been eating normally but is losing a lot of weight.

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Featured STEM Cases

Animal Group Behavior

A farmer in Africa is having problems with elephants eating her corn and cotton crops. As a wildlife biologist, students learn about animal group behavior and relationships of elephants and humans with bees. Students collect data from the farm and elephants to hypothesize and test solutions that will protect the crops without hurting the elephants.

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Featured STEM Cases

Water Crisis: Stoichiometry

There has been an outbreak of legionnaires’ disease in a small town. This disease is caused by legionella bacteria that proliferate in contaminated water supplies. Students take on the role of an environmental chemist to investigate the source of legionella and use stoichiometry to decontaminate the water supply and remediate the disease outbreak.

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Inside an Interactive STEM Case

STEM Cases engage students in-depth in science content, concepts, and practices while scaffolding instruction. Each starts with a real-world problem and then takes students through foundational knowledge and virtual guided-inquiry activities as they work to solve it. Students:

Learn the science required to solve the problem
Collect data to inform the investigation
Analyze and interpret data to gain a deeper understanding of the problem
Form a hypothesis on the cause of the problem and a potential solution
Test the hypothesis through more experiments, and revise it based on new evidence
Communicate findings by writing a case summary report
Learn to work independently, building the autonomy they need to succeed

Real-time data. Real results.

It’s easy to differentiate instruction and address student learning needs with STEM Cases. Embedded, real-time formative assessments evaluate student progress as it happens. And real-time data heatmaps immediately uncover student problem areas. Best of all—research shows these tools elicit significant student learning gains when used in the classroom!

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Everybody's Talking About Gizmos

Hello, Ms. D. I apologize about emailing you during the weekend, but I couldn’t wait to tell you. Gizmos is so much fun, and I absolutely love it. I actually learn something and I like the fact that it is interactive. Thank you so much for making us do Gizmos.

- Gizmos Student, American International School, Abu Dhabi

I really love Gizmos as they help students grasp difficult concepts that can’t always be seen. They make abstract ideas come to life.

- Gizmos Teacher, Foothills School Division, Alberta, Canada

I’m really a strong proponent of Gizmos in science because I have seen firsthand what it does in terms of engaging kids in labs. Gizmos really allow students to go deeper in terms of problem solving and critical thinking.

- Gizmos Assistant Superintendent, Miami-Dade Public Schools, FL

Gizmos STEM Cases improve students’ content knowledge and critical thinking ability. The kids are putting more thought into things and they’re asking better questions.

- Gizmos Director of Science, Gwinnett County Public Schools, GA

Gizmos STEM Cases is the most engaging program that I’ve ever seen! High-quality graphics and real-world stories make them more thought-provoking than traditional teaching materials. Students become more personally invested in the lessons and feel a sense of accomplishment [when doing them].

- Gizmos Director of Science, Walker School, GA