5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun and Educational, December 5, 2009
This review is from: Energy: Student Journal: Its Forms, Changes, & Functions (Investigate the Possibilities) (Investigate the Possibilities Series) (Investigate the Possibilities: Elementary Physics) (Paperback)
Tom DeRosa and Carolyn Reeves have created a fun and educational series of science workbooks for kids aged 8 to 11 years. The student workbook is colorful. The student journal has plenty of room to record observations. The teacher guide contains concise objectives and goals for each lesson. There are 20 terrific investigations (lessons/experiments) in each text that are designed for children in 3rd through 6th grade.
"Forces and Motion" introduces the scientific minds of Archimedes, Daniel Bernoulli, Galileo and Isaac Newton. Topics investigated include friction, gravity, jet propulsion, pulleys, and much more.
"Energy" focuses its teaching on light, heat, magnetism, circuits, and energy from solar, wind, water and nuclear sources.
"Matter" teaches chemistry, acids and bases, salt, metals, phases of matter and much more.
These books would enhance the science curriculum of homeschooled and publicly educated kids. They would even be fun "rainy day" activities without an education requirement. They contain creative teaching activities including dramatic sketches, experiments and writing assignments.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Christian-based science curriculum for hands-on learning, September 30, 2009
This review is from: Energy: Student Journal: Its Forms, Changes, & Functions (Investigate the Possibilities) (Investigate the Possibilities Series) (Investigate the Possibilities: Elementary Physics) (Paperback)
Energy: Its Forms, Changes & Functions is part of a Christian-based science curriculum written by Tom DeRosa and Carolyn Reeves. The other sets in the series, which are published by Master Books, are Matter and Forces and Motion. Each set contains three, paperback booklets with color illustrations.
Energy includes 20 hands-on science lessons that cover such topics as energy, light, heat, magnets, electricity, and solar, wind, water and nuclear energy. Each lesson contains an introduction to the topic, lab instructions, an explanation of the results of the experiment, connections to other ideas related to that topic, an opportunity for students to expand on what they learned, and an assessment to determine what your child learned.
Supplies will have to be gathered ahead of time and include such items as dry cells, sandpaper, marbles, pipe foam insulation, convex lenses, insulated wire, battery holders, knife switch and thermometer. In other words, these are items that are not impossible to find, but you will need to purchase them ahead of time. Equipment can be ordered from places such as Home Science Tools. By purchasing your equipment a little at a time using books like this, it's a good way to create your science supply kit for K-12th grade.
The teacher's guide includes objectives, notes and answers to the assessment questions.
The student journal is where students write observations about the investigation and answers to the assessment questions.
Each three-book set is only $18.00, well worth the price. I recommend Energy for children in 1-8th grade, depending upon the student's science aptitude. For younger students, this could be part of a complete science curriculum. Add some library books and you have everything you need for lab science. For students in 6th grade and up, this could be used as enrichment to complement a science textbook. I would also use this for special education purposes for older students.
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