Thinkwell Chemistry review...

[Michelle in AL]

Ok, in my despair to find the perfect Chemistry program that is understandable and complete with LOTS of math problems incorporated, I bought Thinkwell's Chemistry program through the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. I happen to be a big Dr. Burger of Thinkwell Math fan and I prefer their teaching style to what I've seen of Teaching Co videos.

 

I already own DIVE Chem and Oak Meadow Chem. I was having trouble combining the 2 and when I tried to familiarize my rusty old self with topics not covered in ages such as scientific notation and conversion factors, I found these sources to be slightly lacking in complete explanation and # of practice problems. I do like DIVE, I think it would work better if I used one of the programs it was designed to be used with.

 

Anywhooo back to Thinkwell.

I've compared it to Oak Meadow Chem and it appears to be complete.

You gather information through their notes and video lectures. The notes break down what takes a textbook much longer to say in nice, clear bite size chunks.

 

It has very fun, interesting lab demonstrations sprinked throughout. There are also several lab demos at the end of the course that I haven't viewed yet. I still plan to use DIVE for labs.

 

The interactive exercises are where the chem math is practiced. It includes some not so straight forward problems that force you to think, but I was able to do the ones I tried without outside help. There are just enough problems to enforce and remember the concept.

 

There are also chapter tests and a final exam.

 

I was still worried about it's quality since I'm not a chem major, so I searched the net for reviews. Here's a review by a Univ of GA professor that was done before Thinkwell added the Interactive Exercises.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed079p807

 

I thought I'd post this since others have wondered about Thinkwell too.

 

The only thing I can't figure out is how to schedule it.

[hoosiermom]

Thank you!

 

I, too, have had a hard time evaluating chemistry programs because it's been sooo long since I've had a chem class. Thanks again.

[ourjourneys]

:)

[Joan in GE]

I was still worried about it's quality since I'm not a chem major, so I searched the net for reviews. Here's a review by a Univ of GA professor that was done before Thinkwell added the Interactive Exercises.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed079p807

 

Very useful.

 

Joan

[Guest UnD3R0aTh]

thx for the review, plz check ur pm's

[quark]

Regarding scheduling, there is a 37-week lesson plan here for Chemistry:

http://www.thinkwellhomeschool.com/pdfs/lesson-plans/ChemistryLessonPlan.pdf

 

And similarly, here for AP Chemistry:

http://www.thinkwellhomeschool.com/pdfs/lesson-plans/APChemistryLessonPlan.pdf

[Barbara H]

We used it and liked it. As I also don't feel confident to evaluate the course level I spoke with a professor who taught a college distance learning course using Thinkwell chemistry. He thought the course lectures were right on par with what a student would get in a typical college intro chemistry course and perhaps better depending on the quality of the lecturer at their university. The only downside he found was like with a lot of distance learning some students simply won't put the time in.

[8filltheheart]

Just wanted to pt out for those reading that might not be familiar with Thinkwell that the Thinkwell course is an advanced chem course and is not a regular high school chem level course.