Help! Spectrum Chemistry?

[tofugirl101]

Guten Tag!

 

I am 14, and a rising sophomore. I was looking at Spectrum Chemistry, and it looks pretty good. For anyone who has used it, was it throrough and rigorous enough?

 

I completed Algebra 1 in my freshman year. Do I need to do Bridge Math over the summer?

 

I don't plan on majoring in science or going into a STEM type of field (I'm the singing/movie type :D). Would Spectrum be good enough for a basic chemistry course?

 

Thanks in advance!

[DebbS]

We will begin using Spectrum Chemistry in the fall. From my research, and looking at the materials, I think it's a good first Chemistry course. In addition, it fulfills a lab requirement. If you decide that you want to take an AP level course, generally you do that as your 2nd year of chemistry. The Spectrum would prepare you well for that more advanced level.

 

You wouldn't have to do Bridge Math, but I think it's helpful to solidify the specific kind of math that you'll be using in Chemistry and some of the terminology. It's not terribly expensive but worth much more than you pay for it.

[Handmaiden]

Here is a great response to a previous post about the math requirements about Spectrum.

 

HTH!

[tofugirl101]

Thanks for the answers! :)

 

Anybody else? (I'm hungry for information, lol)

 

Also, what is Conceptual Chemistry exactly? Is it online, video lectures, a textbook, ect. Does it include labs?

 

Also, for anyone who has done Spectrum- does the chemistry book go in-depth into the material? I'm not going into a science related field, but I do want to have a good background in science when I go to college.

Edited July 9, 2011 by tofugirl101

[AngieW in Texas]

I used Spectrum with my oldest and will not use it again. The coverage on the topics it has is pretty good, but it is very narrow. My dd is NOT a science person at all, but she managed to do quite well in this course with no more than one hour of work each week (not including the lab). I think it's pretty light.

 

Conceptual Chemistry doesn't go nearly as deep into the math, but I think it would be much better preparation than Spectrum.

 

I'm going to use Tro's Introductory Chemistry. It's typically used for honors courses in high school or for nonscience majors in college.

[tofugirl101]

How did you find out about Tro's? What did you like about it?

 

So, Spectrum is light... Is it light as in it's too elementary for high school? Or is there not enough work to do throughout the week?

 

Thank you for your answers :)

[krstbrwn]

I'm using Tro's, too. I found out about it on this board. From experience with another curriculum, what I like about Tro is the extensive practice problems. There are plenty of problems to help ensure mastery. The text also seems to be quite "user" friendly. I"ll know more once we dive in beginning in August, but I chose it over Spectrum because I was worried Spectrum wasn't enough.

[Brenda in MA]

So, Spectrum is light... Is it light as in it's too elementary for high school? Or is there not enough work to do throughout the week?

 

Thank you for your answers :)

 

Tofugirl,

 

I would humbly disagree with Angie. My son used Spectrum this past year, and he loved it. He spent much more than an hour a week on the lessons. In addition to working the exercises, I had him make flashcards of the bolded words and other important things to memorize (like the symbols for common elements, etc.), and he spent a short time daily studying those as well. We often spent at least 30 minutes/week discussing what he'd read. The course really increased his interest in the topic and piqued his curiosity in many ways. He enjoyed the course and wants to learn more chemistry.

 

Spectrum does require the use of math to complete some of the exercises. A strong Algebra 1 background should be enough to do the math in Spectrum. My son had completed Algebra 1 & Geometry prior to starting the course, and he did fine without Bridge Math.

 

I thought the course was exceptionally good at explaining the concepts behind chemistry, and it has an all-inclusive lab component. The kit contains everything you need to do the labs (except for a bottle of distilled water, easily purchased at your local drug store). The program includes 30 labs using real chemicals that illustrate the concepts well. I think Spectrum is a terrific first chemistry course and great preparation for AP or college chemistry.

 

Spectrum is not as comprehensive (as in covers every possible topic that one might see on an SAT2 Chem test) as some books, but if you aren't planning to take the SAT2, then it really doesn't matter. I think it does a great job of hitting the core chemistry topics well. Spectrum also is a little thin on practice problems. For some kids, that's not a problem. Others may need to supplement the exercises with something like this: Chemistry.

 

I also purchased a copy of Conceptual Chemistry, and it looks like a good program, but I would have had to do the lesson planning and labs myself. Spectrum was all planned out and included everything. For me, that was important.

 

Best wishes to you in finding a Chemistry course that meets your needs.

 

Brenda

Edited July 9, 2011 by Brenda in MA

[tofugirl101]

Thank you Brenda. I was thinking also that I could supplement practice problems for Spectrum with the internet.

 

I'm still deciding... again, thanks for all the help :001_smile:

[Hunter]

tofugirl, remember it is always easier to add resources than figure out what to skip. "light" courses get DONE. A light course that gets FINISHED is superior to a rigorous course that got abandoned. A light course that is finished early can be followed up by another. Or can be supplemented along the way with real books, hands on activities or a research project.

 

Read TWTM. The author does NOT suggest a rigorous chemistry textbook!

[DebbS]

We have purchased Teaching Company's High School Chemistry DVDs to use along with The Spectrum, though I'm not sure that it will be necessary. I know of a few other people who have used these DVDs with various chemistry courses and have found them valuable.

[tofugirl101]

Ok....

 

So, I'm considering taking Spectrum Chemistry, with supplemental practice problems from the internet/library.

 

But, I found ChemAdvantage. They offer an Honors course-has anyone taken this? I have no background knowledge in Chemistry; do I need this to take an Honors Chem course?

[Brenda in MA]

I think I read some posts earlier this year saying that ChemAdvantage was not offering Honors Chem this coming school year, just AP.

 

Maybe this has changed, but you should definitely verify that.

 

Brenda

[tofugirl101]

^ Really? Oh darn. I'm emailed the professor-gonna see what he says.

 

It looks like Spectrum is slowly winning...