Kfamily Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I posted this to the K-8 Board a week or so ago, but would love to add to the original question.... My younger dd (9) has nearly finished A Swiftly Tilting Planet (and plans on read the next book). She has been interested in astronomy for awhile now, but has lately become very interested in time and space. I have RS4K Astronomy which will be starting very soon and we've watched about 9 or so documentaries for astronomy. She is currently reading this book: http://www.amazon.com/Einsteins-Cosmos-Albert-Transformed-Understanding/dp/075381904X which she checked from the library. I would love to order her a kit or project (if it exists) that would help both of us learn more about this. I checked the library for the books suggested to me already and the library had none. (We're in Okinawa, so library books are limited.) They had no children's books on time and space. If anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate them. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 My son enjoyed these lectures on astronomy: https://titanas.it.teithe.gr/shared/v13/astronomy/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heliconian Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 My son is loving this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Story-Science-Einstein-Dimension/dp/1588341623/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340904942&sr=1-1&keywords=einstein+story+of+science Have you looked at eNasco 's astronomy supplies ( http://www.enasco.com/science/ )? They have lots of kits and videos, some at a very simple, solar system level, but some about stellar mapping and far more advanced concepts. Maybe you can find something there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aug17girl Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 My family really enjoyed the Nova series The Fabric of the Cosmos. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/fabric-of-cosmos.html#fabric-space. It is available on DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 (edited) Thanks so much! I'm looking at all of these resources. Any recommendations for physics kits, books, sites, etc....especially ones dealing with light, speed, velocity (I found her yesterday looking up velocity in the dictionary, lol...) would be great too. I gave her a few textbooks and we looked up signal velocity online. This is going to be over her head, I think, but I want to encourage and supplement her in any way. Edited June 28, 2012 by Kfamily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heliconian Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Thanks so much! I'm looking at all of these resources. Any recommendations for physics kits, books, sites, etc....especially ones dealing with light, speed, velocity (I found her yesterday looking up velocity in the dictionary, lol...) would be great too. I gave her a few textbooks and we looked up signal velocity online. This is going to be over her head, I think, but I want to encourage and supplement her in any way. Most of the physics kits focus on mechanical physics or on recreating inventions. There are some great ballistics projects out there, though ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Most of the physics kits focus on mechanical physics or on recreating inventions. There are some great ballistics projects out there, though ... :bigear: Like what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 (edited) Yes, I've been seeing that too... This one looks good....and it has pendulum clock too (she wanted to learn about pendulums too) http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/product/physics-workshop I found this too, but I haven't been able to look closely at it yet. http://charles-michel.marle.pagesperso-orange.fr/pdffiles/relatshort.pdf Edited June 29, 2012 by Kfamily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 :bigear: Like what? My 5th grader and 4th grader are studying physics this semester and they're using Physics Workshop as a lab. http://www.amazon.com/Thames-Kosmos-625412-Physics-Workshop/dp/B0002HABZU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340967533&sr=8-1&keywords=physics+workshop They drag this thing out every. day. Even the 4 yro and 7 yro use it to try to make carts and pulleys for their plastic animals. I have the book that came with the kit...if you need to know which physics topics it covers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 I read Stephen Hawking's A Briefer History of Time to my son when he was 9yo. He loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 My ds12 loves the book "The physics of Star Trek". He keeps rereading it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 Has anyone used the Thames and Kosmos Physics kit all the way through and liked it? A lot of the reviews on Amazon indicate that the materials are cheap and break quickly or the pulleys don't work correctly and the diagrams are difficult to follow. I'd really like to hear some better reviews, because I've been looking for some kind of gear/pendulum kit for ds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 :bigear:...I was reading that too at Amazon Thanks for the new book suggestions...I'd forgotten about the Stephen Hawking book. We happened to stumble across a program on cable that was very timely yesterday. We caught it after it had begun a little, but it was about wormholes (sp?, LOL!), white holes and black holes with commentary by the same author of the book she's reading...very interesting!:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest clar0296 Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 Our family loves the show "Through the Wormhole" hosted by Morgan Freeman http://science.discovery.com/tv/through-the-wormhole/ Some episodes talk about wormholes, but there are episodes on time, space, and other mysteries of life. Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Has anyone used the Thames and Kosmos Physics kit all the way through and liked it? A lot of the reviews on Amazon indicate that the materials are cheap and break quickly or the pulleys don't work correctly and the diagrams are difficult to follow. I'd really like to hear some better reviews, because I've been looking for some kind of gear/pendulum kit for ds. That was my experience as well unfortunately. I usually do well with following instructions from a diagram, but I really had a hard time with it and kept thinking there was another book somewhere with better instructions. Nope, we had the entire kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 The book Tools of Timekeeping, A Kid's Guide to the History and Science of Telling Time, by Linda Formichelli is very interesting and has some extremely doable projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 (edited) Has anyone used the Thames and Kosmos Physics kit all the way through and liked it? A lot of the reviews on Amazon indicate that the materials are cheap and break quickly or the pulleys don't work correctly and the diagrams are difficult to follow. I'd really like to hear some better reviews, because I've been looking for some kind of gear/pendulum kit for ds. Let me see if I can give you a review...and I did worry about the amazon reviews before I bought the kit, too. As far as materials being cheap - my kids have NOT broken anything in the kit, yet. In fact, the gears and plates are pretty sturdy. It does come with a lot of small pieces. When they work through the kit, we get a plate out and pour the small pieces onto the plate, so they don't roll away/get lost. You also need to use the yellow tool to take the red connector pieces off the plates/columns. The pulleys work fine for us. OK...the experiment manual. Some of the diagrams and projects are difficult to figure out. For some of the projects, the diagrams do not show you every step to build what you're building. The projects we had problems with: force scale and type 2 lever, lever postal scale, wind-power plant (I almost had a nervous breakdown during the building of the wind-power plant)... However....I am not very mechanical and my kids are on the younger side for this kit. When we had a hard time with something, we would wait until my husband got home :D and he would be able to help the kids build their project (he's more mechanical than I am). He was always able to figure it out. The projects that worked well for us: potato trap, center of gravity locator, sail car (this was NEAT!), tank with threads (my son played with this for a long time), fall speed indicator, ship's lantern (this was really neat, too), shot put device (it was like a slingshot - my son was shooting things with it all afternoon), the pulleys, vehicle on inclined plane, wheels and rollers, cogwheel train (we needed my husband's help with that one). My husband did say that he thought the diagrams did not show a step-by-step assembly method, because the kids are supposed to problem-solve and figure it out. I'm not sure if this was the kit's intention or they just didn't put a lot of effort into their diagrams. The package says ages 8 and up, but I think middle school is probably more appropriate. The 2 kids in our house who are using this kit as a lab are also using Real Science 4 Kids Level 1 Physics textbook. So, I think...if your student is able to grasp the concepts in a middle school physics book, they're probably OK with this physics kit. Also, my biggest complaint about the kit is the price. I wish it were cheaper. If you search for physics kits, though...there isn't much out there. :glare: I plan to use it again in a few years with my younger kids. Edited July 1, 2012 by starrbuck12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 Thank you all so much! This has been so helpful.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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