Do you buy the whole CPO Science experiment kit & teacher guide?

[Annabel Lee]

CPO looks so awesome, but WOW, it's expensive! As I thumbed through the magazine it was hard to imagine spending that much on one subject, though if I had the money to do that I would. Do those of you who use it buy the experiment kits ($1,000+) and the teacher guide kits ($400+)? If not, what do you use in place of it, or how do you get by without it?

[redsquirrel]

:lol:

 

oh my goodness, NO! I did not spend 400$ on science.

 

I bought the book and teacher's ed off amazon. I prob spent about 30$ total for both. Someone posted a link last week that had all three books in chapter by chapter PDFs. And even better, these are the national version NOT the California 'focus on' versions so it will all match up with the student investigations manual. That means, you could just buy a teacher's manual.

 

I went to the site for Middle School Earth Science and downloaded the PDFs under the tab "Student Record Sheets" Those are the 'investigations' or experiments. I looked at each individual experiment (labled 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b etc, etc) and at the beginning of each one, on the right hand side, is a dark grey box. In that box is a listing of the equipment needed for the investigation. I made a list of all of that. I went to Home Science Tools and filled my cart. I bought things like a mineral testing kit, a water testing kit, some rock samples, sandpaper, density rods, a sling psychrometer, compass, a barometer, a couple plastic boxes. I have stuff like sand, soil, empty 2 liter bottles, spoons, eye droppers, etc. It wasn't that hard. I got it all together at the end of the summer.

 

For earth science there was almost nothing that I couldn't 'make it work'. For the stream table I used an extra large paint tray and some sand. FYI, I didn't think that up myself..another hive momma did that. All in all, there were very, very few things I just couldn't manage. In that case, we have the teacher's edition and there are solved investigations there with suggested outcomes. We just worked the data in those cases.

 

Now, physical science is a different matter. That one looks more difficult to manage at home, but I am thinking with some TOPS units, I could make it work. The trick is to know what skill the investigation is trying to teach or convey. If you know that, it isn't difficult to find a substitute activity.

[swimmermom3]

What you purchase will depend in part on realistically how involved with science you want to get. I think the prices you saw were for outfitting a class of 30 students. If you are a dedicated science enthusiast, then you will still find more than enough to do with CPO and Home Science Tools will be your best friend. If science has been set on the back burner in previous years, then plan on reading the chapters, taking some notes, doing one experiment a week and calling it good. If the CPO experiment seems too involved or costly, google the type of experiment and the objective. You will usually be able to find an alternate experiment that can be performed with what you have on hand.

 

A middle school student will not be short-changed by keeping science simple. The idea is to ignite the wonder in science, not to overwhelm the student with the "perfect" science program.

 

Also, before you get really excited about utilizing the textbook online for free, ask yourself if your student is happy reading on the computer. My "techie" does not care to read schoolwork online. He is much happier with having his own copy of the CPO text. You can usually pick up a used text and manual for around $40 total here on the board.

 

The skill sheets, which are available online, are useful for teaching skills across disciplines. There are a lot of them, so pick and choose what is most helpful for you. For example, I was excited to use the skill sheet on working with a textbook. Unfortunately, there is a real trend in current textbooks to "spoon feed" the student. After my son spent at least two hours working through the skill, he asked me "Does this work for all texts?" We pulled out an older siblings AP history texts and he was confronted with solid blocks of text. There were no definitions in the margins or subtitles.

 

Have fun!

[Annabel Lee]

Thanks Lisa and redsqirrel. I'm so excited to know that I can afford it after all! (Mental happy dance!)

[redsquirrel]

Well, I wouldn't say it was cheap, but it wasn't 4,000. But, the over the past couple years I have learned that math and science are where the $$ goes in the upper grades.

 

CPO costs a lot, not only because it is for a whole class, but because they sell very specific materials to be used with their books. Those photogates are very expensive and not like any other I have seen. To buy one will set you back 350$. That car and ramp kit gets used again and again in their physical science course and it costs hundreds for a single one. The atom game costs about 100$ for one.

 

Now, I have seen some criticism of CPO because of their great materials. CPO calls itself 'investigative' science but their kits are so well designed they allow for very little error. They are almost Montessori in nature. The student will get variations in their data allowing them to do a lot of averaging, but they won't have it go wrong. They won't get an unexpected result. And having things go wrong is what investigative science is all about.

 

I knew that going in and I am still very happy with CPO. The Earth and Space program doesn't use those kits. And it mostly presents the investigations as 'how do scientists figure this out? Well, like this.' not 'ask a question and solve it.'

 

I should have kept a list of supplies and I could have posted it. I am sorry I didn't. Swimmermom makes a good point that you should be realistic about what you will do. I really try to challenge myself every year with the hands on science. If I have the materials already purchased/collected I am much more likely to use it. But, I always have a few bloopers. I bought a barometer and didn't use it. Turns out it had to be calibrated with a teensy screwdriver etc and in the moment it was too much of a pain. Much easier to just check the weather channel. But, the spectrometer wasn't expensive and it was a big hit! A well spend 9$. I wish I had spend the 23$ and got the whole kit with the salts to burn to see the colours etc.

 

So, if you have any questions about specific investigations feel free to ask.

[Create Your Ritual]

I am trying to ascertain what Home Science Tool kits (or others) would go with CPO Physical Science.  Does anyone have a list of things they ordered when they used CPO in the past? Thanks

[MEmama]

I bought the text on eBay for around $30. So far the only other thing I've purchased is a $1.29 bottle of water with a spigot. Most of the required materials can be found around the home or improvised in some way.

 

The text is great, but the real meat, IMO, is in the student activity sheets etc found online. I went through each one and printed off the ones I found to be " best" for my son, then cross referenced each with the corresponding chapter. At the same time, I made a list of anything I might need to buy or put together for each observation and lab. It sounds like a lot of work, but it went pretty fast.

[Heather in VA]

I bought the text on eBay for around $30. So far the only other thing I've purchased is a $1.29 bottle of water with a spigot. Most of the required materials can be found around the home or improvised in some way.

 

The text is great, but the real meat, IMO, is in the student activity sheets etc found online. I went through each one and printed off the ones I found to be " best" for my son, then cross referenced each with the corresponding chapter. At the same time, I made a list of anything I might need to buy or put together for each observation and lab. It sounds like a lot of work, but it went pretty fast.

 

I just downloaded the text pdf and now I'm trying to figure out where to get the student activity sheets. Can you tell me where online I can find them? I am going to use Physical Science. I keep finding all kinds of different things and I'm not sure what I should get. 

 

Thanks

Heather

[Matryoshka]

I just downloaded the text pdf and now I'm trying to figure out where to get the student activity sheets. Can you tell me where online I can find them? I am going to use Physical Science. I keep finding all kinds of different things and I'm not sure what I should get. 

 

Thanks

Heather

 

Go to cpo.com->For Educators->Name of Book you Want.  On the right side are the Skill Sheets by Unit.  Underneath them are Student Record Sheets, which are lab record sheets that have more room to write than the ones in the Investigations book.  You can get the answers by calling your local rep and asking for the Teacher resources CD (free).

 

For equipment, I did buy the Car/Ramp kit and the Photogates/Timers.  Actually split the cost with a friend and we did the labs together.  Everything else was easy to do with other materials.  In fact, I got through Life and Earth fine without those either, but ended up getting them for Physics, which I did third.  In retrospect, would've been more cost effective to buy them when I used the first title!

[Heather in VA]

Thanks Matryoshka!!!

[Guest Bearsmama4]

Thanks so much! All the information has been so helpful.