Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
coski.paul@lusd.org
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
ExploreLearning develops online solutions to improve student learning in math and science, and we currently have two products: (1) ExploreLearning Gizmos, the world’s largest library of interactive, online simulations for math and science in grades 3 –12 and (2) Reflex, the most powerful solution available for math fact fluency development. Gizmos and Reflex bring research-proven instructional strategies to classrooms around the world. Pricing for is provided on the last two pages for Gizmos only in a few configurations.
Gizmos , brings the power of inquiry-based learning to teachers and students in grades 3 –12 .
Gizmos help teachers take advantage of research-proven instructional strategies that let students of all ability levels develop conceptual understanding. With more than 450 Gizmos at their disposal, teachers can supplement and enhance instruction with powerful interactive visualizations of mathematics and science concepts. Students can manipulate key variables, generate and test hypotheses, and engage in exten sive “what-if” experimentation, on computers or iPads!
Key features include:
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Inquiry-based lessons that are ready to use or customizable.
Correlations to California state standards, Common Core standards and over 200 leading
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 textbooks. We will correlate to your text books at no charge.
Formative assessment with instant feedback for students and real-time reports for teachers.
Inquiry based activities which require the student to interact with the on line Gizmo activity.
Endless opportunities for the student to discover the mathematical principles, through persevering
 through what if scenarios.
Flexible, easy to use product for use in whole group instruction, in computer labs, in small groups or individually, or at home.
In addition, we provide implementation services and ongoing support to a worldwide customer base.
Typical elements include initial and ongoing training, project management, customer service, and technical support. Our Sales and Professional Development team members are located in client regions throughout the United States and Canada to serve our customers’ needs.
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
1. Research based
Gizmos and Reflex have produced impressive math and science gains for students. Efficacy data for both products is summarized below and additional information can be found on the ExploreLearning website at http://www.explorelearning.com/research (Gizmos) and http://www.reflexmath.com/casestudies (Reflex).
Gizmos
The Maine Impact Study for Technology in Mathematics (MISTM), 2008
An independent study by Maine’s Department of Education and the Maine Education Policy Research
Institute (MEPRI) and the Education Development Center (EDC), involving 56 rural middle schools found strong scientific evidence that:
 Teachers receiving professional development centering on the use of online virtual manipulatives,
 including Gizmos , significantly outperformed control group teachers in math content knowledge.
Their students significantly outperformed those in a control group on mathematics test scores.
Effective K-12 Science Instruction: Elements of Research-based Science Education and the Texas Science
Initiative Meta-Analysis of National Research Regarding Science Teaching, 2005
A meta-analysis of more than 60 met hodologically rigorous studies in K−12 science education identified several specific teaching strategies that lead to large gains in student achievement:
 Manipulation strategies require students to become active learners who participate in building
 their own understanding.
Inquiry-based learning provides opportunities to analyze data and encourages deep
 understanding.
Technology-enhanced instruction, including simulations, enables students to manipulate variables and quickly see the results.
Why Gizmos Work: Empirical Evidence for the Instructional Effectiveness Of ExploreLearning's Interactive
Content, (White Paper) 2003
Marzano's meta-analytical study (1998) identified those instructional strategies that have a strong positive impact on student achievement, including these key tenets of ExploreLearning Gizmos :
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Representing new knowledge in graphic/non-linguistic formats
Using manipulatives to explore and apply new knowledge
Generating and testing hypotheses about new knowledge
Direct presentation of new knowledge, followed by application
Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, by Howard Pitler, Ed.D. Elizabeth R. Hubbell,
Matt Kuhn and Kim Malenoski, 2007
Key Findings:
 Many of Marzano’s nine categories of effective instructional strategies are directly supported by
Gizmos , most notably nonlinguistic representation, and generating and testing hypothesis.
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Gizmos
Gizmos
are an effective and engaging way to move students to inquiry-based science and math.
move students to use higher-level thinking skills.
Technology in the Secondary Science Classroom, edited by Randy L. Bell, Julie Gess-Newsome, and
Julie Luft, 2007
Key Findings:
 Gizmos are well aligned with the findings of more than two decades of research on the effective
 uses of computer simulations in science instruction.
Gizmos facilitate data collection and analysis, and enhance scientific understanding through imagery and visualization.
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
What are Gizmos?
Gizmos are interactive simulations designed to promote exploration, experimentation, and discovery in math and science. Gizmos are open-ended, which means that students are free to manipulate variables as they see fit, run experiments, and look for patterns. The lesson materials provided with Gizmos are customizable and follow a “structured inquiry” approach , with the goal of allowing students to figure out relationships on their own. Thus students become active learners rather than passive recipients of information. The best way to learn about Gizmos is to explore them. Consider the Fraction Garden
Gizmo, shown below:
The Gizmo shows two robots, Bud and Blossom, who can plant flowers on the garden beds. Each bed represents one whole. By setting the fraction at bottom left and clicking Go Bud or Go Blossom , the robot plants a flower at that location. A third robot, named Chalky, can draw chalk marks at regular intervals along the bed.
Gizmos do not act on a set “script” in which there is only one way to use the simulation. Students can have Bud and Blossom plant a flower at each of these locations, then use chalky to show that both fractions are between 3/6 (1/2) and 4/6 (2/3). This is shown below:
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
Each Gizmo comes with a set of Lesson Materials that includes a Student Exploration Sheet, an Answer
Key, a Teacher Guide, and a Vocabulary Sheet. The Fraction Garden Student Exploration Sheet guides students through lessons on comparing fractions, equivalent fractions, and estimating fractions. Each lesson is engaging and age-appropriate.
The Student Exploration Sheet is designed to give structure to the lesson and assure that students grasp the main concepts without diminishing the ability of students to explore the Gizmo on their own. Feedback from teachers identify how well this material supports writing about Science and Math, including collecting data, posing an argument and defending it with data collected from the interaction.
The Teacher Guide gives an overview of the lesson, providing learning objectives, vocabulary, suggestions for pre- and postGizmo lessons, mathematical background, (great resource for teachers needing to brush up on the content due to new Common core expectations or changes in the subjects they will be teaching. ) and selected Web resources.
The Vocabulary Sheet is a handy resource for students who are learning both the language and concepts of mathematics, and the mathematical background found in the teacher guide is becoming a vital tool for teachers to freshen and deepen content knowledge.
Additionally, teachers find the questions provided in each guide to be a great resource for engaging in higher order thinking discussions.
The documents are available to allow teachers to customize lessons for their own needs. Teachers can upload their own lesson materials to the Website or download the materials created by other teachers.
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
Instructional Design
Gizmos are highly modular and flexible. They are designed to suit the needs of a broad range of teachers and instructional settings, ranging from whole group instruction with an overhead projector or interactive whiteboard, to the computer lab, classroom workstations, at individual laptops, mobile devices or at home. Teachers can integrate Gizmos as presentation aids when they are first teaching a topic to their students, and also use them to anchor and stimulate classroom discussions, and finally have students apply new concepts on their own.
As the Marzano (1998) meta-analysis notes, students learn effectively and efficiently when they are first taught new conceptual categories, generalizations, and principles directly, only after which they apply them on their own. Ideally, then, educational software should support this instructional sequence by serving two main objectives: first, it should support teachers in presenting new knowledge to students, and second, it should support students in applying and extending what they have learned on a more individual basis.
Using the Freefall Laboratory Gizmo , here is a typical, effective teaching and learning scenario:
1. The teacher tells students that he/she is going to simulate a tennis ball dropping through a 20 meter-high tube containing a vacuum. Using the Freefall Laboratory Gizmo (projected on a screen), the teacher demonstrates the scenario and shows the position, velocity and acceleration.
2. Next, the teacher asks the students how the graphs might change if the tube was filled with air, directing the students to hypothesize and model their ideas in the Gizmo .
3. Once students are finished, the teacher performs a trial involving a 20-meter air-filled tube, and students compare the graphs to the ones they generated. The class discusses the results.
The class moves on to consider how the graphs would change if the object dropped was a shuttlecock rather than a tennis ball, or if the drop distance was shortened or lengthened.
Gizmos: Freefall Laboratory
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
Additionally, here is an example of one Student Exploration activity Work sheet.
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
Computer-based Manipulatives
Computer-based manipulatives are powerful tools, and students derive the greatest value from them when they are guided in their use. As noted by Clements & McMillen (1996), the full pedagogical power of the manipulative is achieved when students mindfully reflect on the actions they perform and how the manipulative responds to them.
The lesson materials that accompany every Gizmo are designed to support and stimulate this type of mindful interaction. Lessons all provide a sequence of suggested activities that guide teachers and students in thinking about and using the manipulative. Suggested activities are followed by a set of assessment items that evaluate student progress. The ExploreLearning.com system automatically scores these assessments and provides students with meaningful feedback and teachers with online assessment results.
Typical lessons start with students engaging in a set of exercises that helps them understand the Gizmo concept and they record the results of their exploration. Then, students are prompted to make predictions about new situations, after which they verify their answers using the Gizmo . For example, in the Gizmo
Translating and Scaling Functions , students first individually vary the a , b , h and k parameters in a function in form y = af ( b ( x – h )) + k . After observing the effects of increasing and decreasing these parameters, they are asked to predict how the graph of y = f ( x ) + 3 will differ from the graph of y = f ( x ).
The Gizmo is used to verify their prediction.
Gizmos: Translating and Scaling Functions
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
Many of the science lesson materials follow typical science lab activity format. In the Seed Germination
Gizmo , for example, the lesson leads students through a set of experiments where they vary the amount of water and light a group of seeds is exposed to, as well as the temperature of the seeds’ incubator.
Then, they observe the number of seeds that germinate into sprouts. In addition to learning about the effects the manipulated variables have on seed germination rates, students also develop firsthand experience with principles of experimental design —such as why scientists perform several trials of an experiment and then average the results, and how they isolate the effects of individual variables as well as study their combined impact. The lesson highlights these important aspects of scientific inquiry, and guides students in evolving and refining their hypotheses through careful experimentation.
Other lesson materials follow the format of typical science lab activities. In the Seed Germination Gizmo , for example, the lesson leads students through a set of experiments where they vary the amount of water and light a group of seeds is exposed to, as well as the temperature of the seeds’ incubator. Then, they observe the number of seeds that germinate into sprouts. In addition to learning about the effects the manipulated variables have on seed germination rates, students also develop firsthand experience with principles of experimental design —such as why scientists perform several trials of an experiment and then average the results, and how they isolate the effects of individual variables as well as study their combined impact. The lesson materials highlight these important aspects of scientific inquiry, and guide students in evolving and refining their hypotheses through careful experimentation.
Gizmos: Seed Germination
Using Gizmos in conjunction with their associated lessons, students can generate and test a very wide range of hypotheses quickly and safely, without the need to set up and configure any physical apparatus.
ExploreLearning’s science Gizmos can also serve as invaluable preparatory tools before students perform lengthy experiments with real equipment in labs.
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
This proposal includes options for adoption.
ExploreLearning Gizmos for all teachers participating in the implementation. ExploreLearning licenses provide full access to ExploreLearning.com for one year for all participating teachers and their students. Access includes new Gizmos and product features, and ongoing upgrades to ExploreLearning.com. All subscribers receive toll-free telephone and email support from 8:30am-5:00pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.
Please note that prices contained in this proposal do not include any applicable state sales taxes.
Math AND Science
School license
Professional
Development
Elementary Schools
Math AND Science
Middle School license
Discount for District wide adoption
9
9
Math AND Science Gizmos
Elementary School License
One On site Professional Development work shops. To be divided up as needed
1500 Math AND Science Gizmos
Student license including all Middle School teachers
Elementary Discount
Middle School Discount
$ 2,500 $ 22,500 $ 22,500
$ 1,800 $ 16,200 no charge
$ 7.00 $ 10,500 $ 10,500
$ 2,250
$ 1,500
$ - 3,750
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
Math AND Science
School license
Professional
Development
Elementary Schools
Math AND Science
Middle School license
9
9
Math AND Science Gizmos
Elementary School License
One On site Professional Development work shops. To be divided up as needed
1500 Science Gizmos only for Middle School
Student license including all Middle School teachers
$ 2,500 $ 22,500 $ 22,500
$ 1,800 $ 16,200 no charge
$ 3.50 $ 5,250 $ 5,250
Discount for District wide adoption
Elementary Discount $ 2,250 $ - 2,250
Math AND Science 1500 Math AND Science Gizmos
Professional
Development
1 On site
$ 7.00
$ 1,800
Math AND Science 1500 Math AND Science Gizmos
Professional
Development
1 On site
$ 4.25
$ 1,800
$ 10,500
$ 1,800
$ 6,375
$ 1,800
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Lompoc Unified School District
Informational Document & Pricing Proposal
June 5, 2014
Next Steps
Please call Eileen Salsman at (619) 816-7271 or email eileensalsman@explorelearning.com for more information on any aspect of this proposal.
Purchase Orders may be sent to ExploreLearning Orders via one of the following methods:
1.
Fax to 434-220-1484 with subscription start (e.g. Start August, 2014)
2.
Please indicate a primary contact with phone number and email.
3.
Email to orders@explorelearning.com
4.
U.S. mail to:
ExploreLearning Orders
PO Box 2185
Charlottesville, VA 2290
ExploreLearning is a business unit of LAZEL, Inc. (FEIN 27-1609020)
ExploreLearning is the sole source for ExploreLearning.com online subscription services of Math and
Science Gizmos TM and associated professional development and training.
This proposal presented by and any resulting order is subject to ExploreLearning’s standard terms and conditions which can be found on ExploreLearning’s website at http://www.explorelearning.com
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