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Need middle school earth science curriculum


creekmom
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My ds is loving BJU's Space & Earth science (w/DVDs). He's learned gobbs already! He really enjoyed the rocketry chapters and learning about all of the Space Shuttles and Astronauts. He hasn't gotten into a lot of the 'earth' stuff yet though...but in looking through the book I see lots of good stuff ahead.

 

BJU is NOT an easy science though (not that you want something easy...just sayin' for informations sake). It expects a lot from your student and the tests can be quite hard. It's also Young Earth if that makes a difference to you one way or another.

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Here's something very different: a series of hands-on activities, data collection, and scientific thinking exercises from http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/GEMS

 

Stories in Stone, Plate Tectonics, River Cutters, Only One Ocean, and Ocean Currents form a very coherent earth science program. The teachers' guides include detailed materials lists (among other things, kids make a model river from a huge plastic container filled with fine sand and a plastic water bottle fitted with an on-off drip and model volcanoes); background information for teachers; very detailed procedures; activity guides; data collection or other note-taking sheets that can be xeroxed or used as is for one child; assessment and extension ideas; and lists of fiction and non-fiction books to read along with the activities. The emphasis is on true conceptual understanding, on the extensive use of models, data collection, observation, and discussion.

 

The only kits are for classrooms, so the single drawback is the materials-collecting stage. It's well worth it, though. These programs are the most engaging science I've ever come upon -- once you get the materials you can almost always sit back while the kid(s) plunge enthusiastically into the activities, or you can work alongside them, which is what I liked to do a lot of the time. Kids of different ages can participate to some extent or another as well. When I used River Cutters at a co-op, the models drew everyone from a four-year-old to adults.

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I've looked at CPO online- it looks good. Would you recommend getting a set (TE, Student Text, etc.)? Is it available for a good (reasonable) price?

 

I bought the student text & TE used fairly cheap. I think the text (which came with the lab manual) was $20 and the TE was about $40. IMO you don't really need the TE; it's pretty easy to find the answers to review questions in the student book. I have the "Focus on Earth Science" books, which are California standards; they tend to be cheaper and more readily available than the other ones. I didn't use any of their lab equipment, we just did our own thing. There is someone here who's doing CPO Earth Science this year and has posted photos of home-made versions of some of the lab equipment, like the stream table and the convection box. Geoblox has some cool hands-on model projects to go with Earth Science.

 

Jackie

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I bought the student text & TE used fairly cheap. I think the text (which came with the lab manual) was $20 and the TE was about $40. IMO you don't really need the TE; it's pretty easy to find the answers to review questions in the student book. I have the "Focus on Earth Science" books, which are California standards; they tend to be cheaper and more readily available than the other ones. I didn't use any of their lab equipment, we just did our own thing. There is someone here who's doing CPO Earth Science this year and has posted photos of home-made versions of some of the lab equipment, like the stream table and the convection box. Geoblox has some cool hands-on model projects to go with Earth Science.

 

Jackie

 

Thanks! I just found a used one on Amazon for less than $10.00 - shipping included.

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