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Secular Science - Anyone used Intellego Unit Studies?


WIS0320
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http://www.intellegounitstudies.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_9&zenid=e8721a27058bfe5d802f182fc6a69903

 

It is apparently completely secular. I found it refreshing to see a unity study on evolution for the K-2 crowd. :tongue_smilie: I just bought the Earth and Space K-2 unit through Currclick for $14.95 so if it is a complete bust I won't feel too badly about it b/c the cost is low.

 

It appears that they encourage NOT printing out the entire PDF but only printing the pages that are needed for writing and projects. I've been through the entire PDF and all links are active and look excellent and I like that the projects look to be effective without requiring bizarre materials. I will supplement with books from the library but this looks like a nice hands on and "extras" guide for me.

 

With the holidays coming up I just don't have time to pull together resources as I've been doing for our science units (we've been following CK) so this looks do-able.

 

I've scanned using search here and I've not found too much there which is why I am posting. Has anyone here used these units before? There are definitely some interesting unit topics, especially for older students.

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I have a few of the Intellego units and I really like them. The links are kept up to date and I've never had a problem with any of them. I have been eyeing the evolution unit and may pick it up when we get around to restarting with prehistory again. Right now my kids are really young so we don't usually do everything in a unit but I figure we'll be repeating the topics when they get older. The price is great and the activities fun. The computer is perfect for my son since he's very visual and really pays attention to anything on the computer.

Edited by dottieanna29
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I have a few of the Intellego units and I really like them.

 

Could you tell me specifically which units you've used? I like the looks of the American heros and symbols units but I'm still not sure if they are worth it! I am pleased (so far) with the Earth and Space.

 

I can see how one of these units could be used in addition to another science program. I really think the Task Cards from Creek Edge or RSO + an Intellego unit + library books would be great secular science for an entire year.

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We love the Intellego studies here. So far we've done Ancient Rome, Great Lakes, and we're just about to begin Cinderella. The depth of the knowledge my daughter gained from the studies has been quite astounding.

 

I love that I don't have to print everything, and that there are aspects she can do herself through links (since I work and she comes to the office with me, my direct instruction time is limited). There is no "busywork"; everything has been well thought out.

 

I have never come across a broken link, but I have seen people comment on another hs forum I frequent that any links they have reported have been fixed almost immediately, and often the same day. I have had the pleasure of speaking with the author by email on several occasions, and she is both helpful and friendly.

 

Ok, starting to sound like an ad here, but really they are the best unit studies we have used!

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We love the Intellego studies here. So far we've done Ancient Rome, Great Lakes, and we're just about to begin Cinderella.

 

This looks awesome! We may have to fit this and the VA study in during the summer. I need to look around the site more and see what else is available.

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I'm really curious why many seem to think an evolution unit for little kids is so important? I mean, I believe in evolution and I read my young kids a little book about it but that was it.

 

It doesn't seem like a terribly important topic for unit study for little kids to me. There's nothing to experiment with or observe. Other than answering the "where did we come from?", what's there to talk about with a 6 yr old?

 

I sometimes think its importance is artificially elevated because of the "controversy".

 

Of course, I don't think dinosaurs are an important topic of science study either. :D They can get books and read about them if it interests them. Things like evolution and dinosaurs don't really lay a foundation for observing the way the world works. They don't really take a young child through the scientific process.

 

Not that I think there's anything intrinsically wrong with further study of the topic if it is of interest to the child, but I'm not sure why evolution is considered such an important deal-making topic in science curricula for little kids. I did read a simple book about evolution to my kids and that kind of satisfied any questions they had about it. They were decidedly NOT interested in early (prehistoric) humans or any books I had about them. Too much grueling detail about long-dead people without stories to tell.

Edited by zenjenn
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Not that I think there's anything intrinsically wrong with further study of the topic if it is of interest to the child, but I'm not sure why evolution is considered such an important deal-making topic in science curricula for little kids. I did read a simple book about evolution to my kids and that kind of satisfied any questions they had about it. They were decidedly NOT interested in early (prehistoric) humans or any books I had about them. Too much grueling detail about long-dead people without stories to tell.

 

I'm not planning on using that unit. What it tells me as I am looking through other science units is that I am not going to find religious belief-based science that I am going to have to edit.

 

For instance, I would never use Apologia because it isn't worth the hassle of editing it. I'm not trying to find materials specific to evolution what I am trying to find is something secular and it is a pretty good bet that the other science materials are void of any religious content if there is a unit on evolution available.

 

Unlike you, I do find studying dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures important. My point in starting this thread wasn't to dredge up the Old Earth/New Earth debate it was to tell other secular science seekers that I thought I'd found a decent option for them and I was looking for reviews from others who had already used Intellego units.

Edited by drexel
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They don't really take a young child through the scientific process.
And canned "experiments" and demonstrations do? Nature study and nature walks? My kids are entensely interested in how we came to be human and what it means to be human... or cats or dogs or dinosaurs. Science isn't just a process of discovery; it also helps us tell our story, a narrative history every bit as important and gripping as the one historians tell us. No single way of looking at us, our time, our place (both on earth and in the universe), is comes close to telling the whole story.
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I'm really curious why many seem to think an evolution unit for little kids is so important? I mean, I believe in evolution and I read my young kids a little book about it but that was it.

 

It doesn't seem like a terribly important topic for unit study for little kids to me. There's nothing to experiment with or observe. Other than answering the "where did we come from?", what's there to talk about with a 6 yr old?

 

I sometimes think its importance is artificially elevated because of the "controversy".

 

The same argument could be made about history in general: why study it?

 

The difference is that in the case of evolution, it an understanding of evolution forms the underpinnings of what IMHO is the greatest advancements in science and medicine in the last 20 years: genetics and the genome. As to experiments: from what I see in the sample, most of the hands on stuff is reconstructing chickens from bones, making fossil impressions, and the like.

 

I think young kids really like evolution (esp human) because they are changing all the time, hear "when you are older" and the like -- so to think of grand scale changes like evolution resonates.

 

Not trying to start a debate; just explaining why I feel teaching my kids about evolution is important.

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I'm really curious why many seem to think an evolution unit for little kids is so important? I mean, I believe in evolution and I read my young kids a little book about it but that was it.

 

It doesn't seem like a terribly important topic for unit study for little kids to me. There's nothing to experiment with or observe. Other than answering the "where did we come from?", what's there to talk about with a 6 yr old?

 

I sometimes think its importance is artificially elevated because of the "controversy".

 

It has become important to me because of the controversy. I was not taught it (bible-belt, 1960s), but I was not exposed to the opposite either. I feel I have to arm my child because of the children being armed on "the other side". I am reminded of how much quiet, pleasant, assumed religion was about when I grew up (along with a big dose of mind your own business). No Christian fishes in the ads in the yellow pages, no children being pulled from you in at the playground because you are not a fundie.

 

Now, with many religious people feeling there is a war on them in the US (which is still predominantly Christian), tow-truck companies use it to sell their service, and children are pulled away in the playground. I'm very sorry about that state of affairs, but if there is going to be a war about science starting, I'd like my son to be armed, too.

 

Plus, he's fascinated by biology of all sorts. :001_smile: He also loved dinos and we learned a lot of Greek roots and tricky pronunciation because of them. :D

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I think young kids really like evolution (esp human) because they are changing all the time, hear "when you are older" and the like -- so to think of grand scale changes like evolution resonates.

 

I found with my kids, the time frame for evolution is so large as to be too incomprehensible to be meaningful in any detail. History, even ancient history, is meaningful because they do understand a number as large as six or seven thousand (but honestly, even that is pushing their limits.)

 

Like I said, we did read a book and talk about it generally, but even then my youngest, (age 6 and VERY bright) asked pressing questions and would get frustrated. The scope and scale of it was just too large for her to meaningfully understand, and I wasn't even trying to teach more than a passing familiarity with the topic through reading a children's book and discussing it.

 

History, at least, can be related to human experience as we understand it. (And one of the things I have most stressed upon my kids is the similarity of human beings through history, even thousands of years ago. I'm not sure the same can be said of Australopithecus.)

 

 

That was just my experience...

 

 

It has become important to me because of the controversy. I was not taught it (bible-belt, 1960s), but I was not exposed to the opposite either

 

You know, it's funny - I was raised similarly (though not in the Bible belt), but Evolution did not play a role in my science study nor was I taught any Biblical literacy. To me, giving my kids Biblical literacy has been more pivotal, because my own Biblical illiteracy was to the point of being embarrassing. Evolutionary theory was something I picked up on the side, and definitely in my college Biology class, but Biblical illiteracy is something that followed me into adulthood.

 

Of course, I have turned out to be religious (though not remotely a Biblical literalist), but once I increased my own Biblical literacy the amount of references, etc to the Bible were brought into sharp focus. The lack of coverage of evolution in school was not nearly the lacuna in my knowledge that religious ignorance was.

 

Our "unit" I guess you could say about prehistory was a study of evolution, but also creation myths of various sorts (Genesis as well as others.) And just an examination of the question "How did things start? Where did they come from?" It was a rich study for us, but I can't imagine belaboring early humans and evolution (and in fact, we spent less time on it than I even planned due to their reactions.)

 

The actual science curriculum we use I don't think covers evolution (we've started with physics, so I can't be sure.) but I doubt it.

 

As for the "canned experiments", I'm not sure I would call ours entirely canned, but I do think the K-2 crowd learns a lot from just learning to be observant and making predictions based on past experience. Rolling cars, clashing marbles, examining the properties of objects and how they interact with other objects and the environment. Writing observations and asking questions, I do think is a valuable exercise. I think that kind of thing stays with then, since it is visceral. And at least at this age, science is more of a 1-2 times a week thing.

 

Sorry I didn't mean to hijack, but there's always room for discussion here which is why I love this forum. :) And to the original topic, I may even look into this curriculum since what we are using now may cover a year, or a year and a half, at most.

Edited by zenjenn
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