Updated May 2014
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ExploreLearning Gizmos: Science Grades 3-5

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Mostly age-appropriate manipulatives offer inquiry without the mess

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • Math
  • Science
Skills
  • Critical Thinking
Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.
3–5
Common Sense says
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Price:  Free to Try, Paid Free accounts allow access to a rotating collection of free Gizmos, as well as a preview of all Gizmos for up to 5 minutes a day. School and district licenses available; pricing available upon request.
Platforms:  Website

Take a look inside

5 images
The Gizmos here are organized by grade level and topic.
Each gizmo comes with a set of assessment questions that provide immediate feedback.
Students get an individualized report with their results.
The teacher guides lay out learning objectives, lesson sequences, and scientific background information.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

ExploreLearning's interactive math and science gizmos for grades 3-5 span the Earth, physical, and life sciences. Many of these gizmos capitalize on the ways that math and science are intertwined through measurement. While some of the content here won't be a great fit for every third- to fifth-grader, overall these gizmos put kids in the driver's seat as they run these fun investigations. Be sure to check out the individual gizmos first before turning your students loose.

The online teacher community is a great place to find lesson plans and get advice on the best ways to use the gizmos. Many of the lessons here are as good as –- if not better than -– the site's sample guides. That said, it can be time-consuming to enroll all of your students' passwords. Try letting your students enroll themselves by entering the enrollment key. This lets kids pick a username and password -- just make sure they have a way to remember these. As the class enrollment keys are long, be sure to provide them for students on a slip of paper. Once in, kids will jump right into the assessment. Encourage them to take their time, play with the gizmos, and figure things out. As your classes work, the site's system test page is a great way to help troubleshoot any technical issues.

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Standards:

Key Standards Supported

Measurement And Data

  • 3.MD.3

    Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. Solve one- and two-step “how many more” and “how many less” problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs. For example, draw a bar graph in which each square in the bar graph might represent 5 pets.

  • 3.MD.4

    Generate measurement data by measuring lengths using rulers marked with halves and fourths of an inch. Show the data by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in appropriate units— whole numbers, halves, or quarters.

  • 3.MD.1

    Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes, e.g., by representing the problem on a number line diagram.

  • 3.MD.2

    Measure and estimate liquid volumes and masses of objects using standard units of grams (g), kilograms (kg), and liters (l).6 Add, subtract, multiply, or divide to solve one-step word problems involving masses or volumes that are given in the same units, e.g., by using drawings (such as a beaker with a measurement scale) to represent the problem.7

  • 4.MD.4

    Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4, 1/8). Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information presented in line plots. For example, from a line plot find and interpret the difference in length between the longest and shortest specimens in an insect collection.

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Key Standards Supported

Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

  • 3-LS4-2

    Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.

  • 3-LS4-3

    Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Earth and Human Activity

  • 4-ESS3-1

    Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.

Earth’s Place in the Universe

  • 5-ESS1-2

    Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.

Earth’s Systems

  • 4-ESS2-2

    Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

  • 5-LS2-1

    Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

Energy

  • 4-PS3-1

    Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.

  • 4-PS3-2

    Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

  • 4-PS3-3

    Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.

  • 4-PS3-4

    Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

  • 5-PS3-1

    Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

  • 4-LS1-1

    Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

  • 4-LS1-2

    Use a model to describe that animals’ receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.

  • 5-LS1-1

    Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

  • 3-LS3-1

    Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.

  • 3-LS3-2

    Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.

Matter and Its Interactions

  • 5-PS1-3

    Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

  • 3-PS2-1

    Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.

  • 3-PS2-2

    Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

  • 3-PS2-3

    Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.

  • 3-PS2-4

    Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.

  • 5-PS2-1

    Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

  • 4-PS4-1

    Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.

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