mereminerals Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I just finished the STEM thread and my head is spinning. I decided I should post this on here for the BTDT experience. My ds14 is very insistent that he will go to West Point and pursue a Weapons Engineering degree. He has stated for over 4 years that his goal is to design weapons. For those of you that have a STEM degree or have children pursuing a STEM degree, what suggestions do you have to make sure I give him the best opportunity to succeed? He used LOF Beginning Algebra in 7th grade. This year, we had him do a review of Pre-Algebra and Algebra and will continue through the summer to make sure he has a solid foundation in Algebra before proceeding as he has been really struggling to grasp some concepts. Here are my science/math plans for him for high school: 9th: Algebra II (still trying to determine best curriculum for this) and either BJU or Apologia Biology 10th: Geometry (will most likely stick to whatever we end up using for Algebra II) and Chemistry 11th: Trig/Pre-Calculus and Physics 12th: Calculus and AP Physics Sorry, this is so long and thank you so much for taking the time to read. I really am looking forward to hearing suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofkhm Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Well, I had a (short) career in chemistry and that's basically the sequence I had in the public schools. I felt it prepared me for my college level work. My changes were no AP Physics. We had an "advanced" class of bio/chem. Split year on each. They were advanced in terms of labs. That's when we did the fruit fly experiment. I also didn't get to calculus. I started well in math but my grade in Alg II was off by a point to be recommended for Pre-calc. I could have fought it, but I didn't. The "I want an easy year in math" took over. I did a split year of trig and analytical geometry and then pre-calc senior year. It ended up 2 "easy" years in math. (Short career b/c I had kids early.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I am not sure that this is what you were looking for since it doesn't have anything to do with math or science sequences or planning, but as I went through engineering school the big problems were not with lack of math but instead they were problems of studying. Teach study skills. By that I mean, teach him how to learn from a text book when the text book is difficult. Teach outlining and summarizing. Teach doing the example problems in the book. Teach how to use a solution manual. Teach how to make a study sheet. Teach him that spending a looooong time is sometimes what is necessary to learn the material. Teach him how to get help when he needs it. By that I mean how to find people to help him understand difficult problems. Teach him to have a particular question in mind when he approaches someone for help. Teach him that it is alright to not know the answer immediately and that sometimes it is hard. Teach him to be prepared for learning. By that I mean to have all the right tools ready to go when studying or class starts. Have read the pages to be covered before class so that he can ask intelligent questions about what was confusing. To be awake and well fed before class starts. To think of class time as intense learning time and not social time with friends. Teach him that it is his responsibility to learn the material. It is not the teacher's responsibility to get the information into his head. It is his responsibility to get it in there. The teacher is to present information and answer questions. He has to learn it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memphispeg Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Jenne - This is the best advice I have ever heard on how to prepare for college!!!! Bravo Bravo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I agree with Jenne. Also, he doesn't have to love math to be able to succeed in STEM. He just has to be able to USE it. This is a pet peeve of mine. Math doesn't have to be a passion. It can be a tool and still work perfectly well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I agree with Jenne too. I went to West Point and ds is at the Air Force Academy. Your math/science sequence is fine. Ds said he wished he had done more algebra before getting there. He had Algebra I (newer Dolciani) in 8th at school, algebra I again (older Foerster) at home in 9th and algebra II (older Foerster) in 10th. You would have thought that was plenty of algebra. However, I succumbed to the "they'll need the calculators for the SAT/AP tests" trap. :glare: Make sure your ds can do all the algebra I and II, and most of the calculus without a calculator. Use an older text to supplement if you have to, because the newer ones often use ridiculous numbers that make the problems tedious and/or impossible without a calculator. And, yes, he does need to be able to use the graphing calculator but absolutely must be able to graph a function without it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 However, I succumbed to the "they'll need the calculators for the SAT/AP tests" trap. :glare: Make sure your ds can do all the algebra I and II, and most of the calculus without a calculator. This is so true. My daughter is taking math at a Catholic high school this year, and she says that most of the girls in her class can't even multiply in their heads because they have always used calculators. She is not gifted in math, but Saxon and it's endless practice as well as my stubborn banning of calculators all the way through to most of Algebra 1 has resulted in her having at least SOME number sense, which many of her friends do not have at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mereminerals Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 Thank you all so much. At this point, I have not allowed him to use a calculator in his math, mostly because most of his errors are due to calculation errors. We are working on study skills and outlining. I think I am just going to have to bite the bullet and let him highlight in his books as that is how he tends to retain the information. I have always refrained because I wanted to be able to resell the book, but now it is more important for him to be able to use the resources best suited for him. Jenne - that was exactly the type of things I was hoping to get suggestions for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susann Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Ok, how about some help for this science illiterate mom :glare: DD wants to go into either biology or biotech. I think she's leaning towards biology because she says that there is less math involved. So, can someone explain in simple language the difference between the two programs and direct me towards info on careers, job outlook, anything else related??? I wish one of my dds were interested in something that I knew something about!!!!!!:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 Ok, how about some help for this science illiterate mom :glare: DD wants to go into either biology or biotech. I think she's leaning towards biology because she says that there is less math involved. So, can someone explain in simple language the difference between the two programs and direct me towards info on careers, job outlook, anything else related??? I wish one of my dds were interested in something that I knew something about!!!!!!:tongue_smilie: Back when I was in college, calculus was required for the bio major -- along with first year physics and 2 years of chemistry. So it wasn't an "easy" major. (And even now, I know of biology students who are leaving biology because they are flunking out of chemistry because they don't have the math skills....) I know that the colleges around us still at least strongly "recommend" calculus for the biology major. As a biotech degree might be in an engineering college (?), I might expect it to have the same math requirements as an engineering degree, which would go beyond calculus. Bottom line for a science degree -- a student does need to be strong in math, no matter what the field. I'd encourage your daughter to stay with the math. She might need to find another curriculum or program that would help her understand it better. At the very least, she shouldn't make any decisions about avoiding math until she's in college. For a lot of kids, the brain matures a lot in the high school years and what seemed impossible before suddenly becomes doable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 SQ3R? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 TI think I am just going to have to bite the bullet and let him highlight in his books as that is how he tends to retain the information. I have always refrained because I wanted to be able to resell the book, but now it is more important for him to be able to use the resources best suited for him. You could have him take notes and highlight those. Really, memorization does not seem to be a major obstacle for the students. This they can do just fine. The problems begin when they have to THINK instead of regurgitate. That's what I would focus on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mereminerals Posted April 16, 2011 Author Share Posted April 16, 2011 Thank you guys for all the suggestions. I did look up SQ3R and am going over some information I found on it. The highlighting isn't so much for him to memorize it, but it seems to help him if things are in different colors. I'm kinda the same way, though. When I went back to school, I used 4 different highlighter colors for different things and it really helped me when studying. I just hate to buy a second set of everything for my dd to use in a couple of years because big brother colored the whole book in. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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