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WWYD - Chemistry


Mama Bear
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If you have a 7th grader who is using The Mystery of the Periodic Table, Mastering the Periodic Table, and Thames and Kosmos C2000 for his year of chem., how much would you make him write in lab reports, etc.?

 

If this was my second-born, she'd happily fill out a form for at least every other experiment. But this young man could very well have the joy sucked out of what yould otherwise be a fun experience by having to write very much at all. And yet, shouldn't he be writing about this? I have the Abeka book about how to write for Science. Should he be reading that or doing something with it? His brain embraces all things science to the point that it makes me, who loves science, feel a little dizzy in contemplating his thorough enjoyment. :D

 

So..... WWYD???

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We just talked to a chem professor we know last Friday. One of the things he really emphasized was that, "If you don't write it down, it didn't happen." In their research, they have to keep meticulous notes. Now, whether that's dictating the info into a recorder and typing it up later, or hand writing it, doesn't matter, I think - but a record does need to be kept.....

 

Regena

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Wow, so he sees the beauty in chemistry and would happily immerse himself in it... I can understand not wanting to rock that boat.

 

Would he:

 

Create a journal-type page for his experiments? I'm thinking of pictures of the experiments, atomic diagrams, graphs of the data he collects, his own hypotheses, ideas for his own experiments, brief sentences about sciences facts, or people that he found amazing (the speed of light is..., Michael Faraday is my favorite scientist because...).

 

Photo or video document his work (captioning photos in a book form, or preparing brief models and explanations for the video clips). After watching Mythbusters, my son would very much enjoy hamming it up as he described his work for the camera.

 

Keep a list of his science ideas/questions. My favorite High school biology teacher would stop class frequently to remind us that science was all about asking questions, and having ideas.

 

Enter a science fair. Takes the pressure off of you, and impresses on him the importance of communicating in a way that is accepted by all scientists world wide (The standard experiment write up with hypothesis, methods, results, conclusions).

 

Hope you find something that helps him develop something he doesn't like (writing) through doing something he loves (chemistry).

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Thanks, Kirsten. Those are some awesome ideas. I've been contemplating having him enter the science fair at the local HS convention, as well as the viability of him producing photo essays (captioned). Maybe these can eventually segue into my reluctant writer (but big thinker) being more inclined to just write it down, already. :)

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