Customer Reviews

Thames & Kosmos Biology Genetics and DNA

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My daughter received this for Christmas. There is only one experiement she was really excited to do. The others were a bit 'boring' and had already been done in her 7th grade science class. So, I think it had a great price, but the manufactuer should have thought more carefully about what kids want in a set ... cool, fascinating, and fun. You should not have to purchase a larger set to get more exciting experiments.

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Here's the deal with the Thames & London Genetics & DNA Kit. You buy the big box. The art work on the outside holds lots of promise. You open the box, and you pull out a huge chunk of STYROFOAM in a Top and Bottom half.

Inside the chunk of STYROFOAM packaging is a tiny little plastic bag about 1/4th the size of a normal SANDWICH BAG. Inside that plastic bag are some itsy-bitsy tiny pieces of plastic with which a little kid is supposed to build the famed DOUBLE-HELIX.

In addition to that, there is a booklet (about the size of a common paperback novel in small print. There are some paper charts and cut-out materials, some plastic test tubes and other paraphernalia for doing the familiar Tomato Experiment.

I mean, that is all very nice, but mostly you are buying the big chunk of STYROFOAM for storage. Frankly, in this day and age, the one thing that should come cheap is BIG PLASTIC PARTS.

. I cannot recommend this highly.

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Very disappointing.

It says that it provides everything you need except for common household items, but the first experiment requires denatured alcohol (not isopropyl!) which can run [...] at Home Depot. It also called for a hand blender; who owns a hand blender anymore?

We skipped experiment one, to the disappointment of my daughter.

The next few experiments plummeted from 6 - 8th grade level to about grade level three. Again, very disappointing.

The lego-like structure you build as a double-helix was ridiculously frustrating and had my puzzle-expert daughter in tears.

By the last experiment, which actually is kind of cool, we hadn't even used the product so we skipped it to re-sell the almost-new box to someone who doesn't read product reviews.

However, the small booklet that comes in the kit is wonderful. It has great pictures and clear explanations. If they publish that in normal size print I could actually read without a magnifying glass I would recommend the manual alone for, [...]

This is one of the best Thames & Kosmos kits for the money. It comes with dozens of experiments, a chromosome game, a fake "crime scene" DNA mystery to solve, a neat little dna model that you put together, and lab tools you need to separate DNA from various vegetables as well as grow bacteria to experiment with survival of the fittest. The manual and cell poster are beautiful. One of our favorites!

My grandson requested this item and I found a great deal on Amazon. It wasn't sold locally. Vendor shipped promptly. Although I live at some distance from my grandson and haven't observed the set being used, I hear he likes it.

Thames & Kosmos Biology Genetics and DNA

This product came up as a suggested item, when I was purchasing an organic chemistry modeling kit. I am taking genetics also and decided to give it a try. This is not a genetics modeling kit but some crude toy and when the box suggests that it is rated for age 10, believe it. I can't even be sure that they sent what I had originally selected, but I can't find what I thought I ordered, so this is probably it.

Ted