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TOPS science - need help deciding on which units


Nikita
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For our science this year, I'm having my kids choose several TOPS units based on their interests and then I'll find other resources/texts to support those topics (probably PH Explorers, and living books).

 

We love the samples on the website, but since those are not the actual format I cannot tell the difference between the "task card" series and the "activity sheet" formats.

 

It looks like the task cards give you more activities at a lower cost, so I'm wondering what is in the activity sheet series to make them more expensive - are there really extensive teacher notes, worksheets, extra extension activities? For some topics (Electricity, Pendulums) there is a title in both formats and that's just confusing me - which do I choose?

 

I'd also love to hear personal recommendations for titles that your kids loved. Oh, they are working at roughly gr 5 and 8-9.

 

Thanks everyone!

Nikita

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Dh used Rocks & Minerals with ds last year (6th grade). They enjoyed it. It was very easy to use. I cut the task cards apart and glued each one to the back side of a piece of paper in a notebook. Then, there was room to write under and on the front side of the next page. It made it very easy for the less-than-organized males. Each task card is very specific and clear. Some just give information. Others have information and questions for the student to answer. We bought the support kit, which made it even easier.

 

The men have diverted to Exploration Education, but they will return to TOPS when they are done. I have heard good things about Electricity and Magnetism. I would also do any that have support kits.

 

I use Science Explorer with ds, and I think that they complement each other nicely.

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Sue, can you give me any idea how long each task card would have taken for them to exhaust? Would they have spent an hour per task card, or more, or would they have gone through several at a time? Thanks for any insights. I'm glad to hear they enjoyed the Rocks and Minerals, that is one that I'm considering.

 

Nikita

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We are doing magnetism and my kids are loving it, there is a couple of pictures on my blog of them experimenting with their batteries (weekly review and first day posts). It is easy to do and they have been able to do it all by themselves :001_smile:

blessings

lori

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We've used TOPS with varying levels of success, as some booklets are better than others.

 

Upside: many of the experiments are excellent and very helpful in seeing a concept, and TOPS is easy to use as a supplement to a spine book. Student can usually do the experiments on their own.

 

Downside: you have to gather up a lot of items for the experiments and plan on spending $12-18 on those supplies -- and it's best to have them all ready in advance in a box, instead of trying to substitute things around the house at the last moment or making an emergency run to the store. Also, there is no real teacher info to help you out or explain, beyond what is on the reproducible "cards" in the booklet.

 

Personal Rant (lol): I also find the authors' policy in each book very annoying and unrealistic: they strongly request that if you let someone borrow your TOPS book -- or if you buy one used -- that you should send the authors money for each secondary use of the book !!! Please... I know curriculum authors never make the money they deserve for the time they put into their programs, but really... !

 

 

We tend to do about 3/4 of the experiments in the book, as a few experiments either didn't work, or were too difficult to do due to materials needed; and sometimes we just couldn't figure out what the experiment was showing us. We did Rocks & Minerals in 7th grade along with the book "Reader's Digest: How Earth Works" (along with other books/materials of interest) for a terrific earth science year; and then we did Analysis, Solutions, Heat, and Adhesion & Cohesion in 8th grade along with "Reader's Digest: How Science Works" for a terrific physical science (chemistry/physics overview) year. Below are our thoughts on specific TOPS books we've used:

 

Really enjoyed:

- Rocks and Minerals (get the accompanying kit!!)

- Analysis (get the accompanying kit!!)

- Solutions (uses some of the items in the Analysis kit!)

- Adhesion and Cohesion

 

Worthwhile:

- Heat

- Motion

 

Not worth the money:

- Light (too many experiments didn't work, or we couldn't figure out)

- Sound (requires purchase of 3 specialized (expensive) tuning forks!)

 

 

BTW, we're done with our TOPS books and kits now that we've moved up into high school this year, so if interested in purchasing used, please email. : ) BEST of luck, whatever you go with! Warmest regards, Lori D.

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Not Sue, but each "card" usually took about 15 minutes, so we generally did 1-2 cards per day of science, and so got through about 6 cards a week. It's helpful to look ahead at the experiments, because some of them are very connected in using the same items, or in continuing investigating in the same area, so those are good ones to do 2 or even 3 cards in one session. Hope that helps! Warmly, Lori D.

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The Beans and Corn unit was the only one we ended up doing, and I do really recommend it. We did it all, including make our own little balances. It was one of the few hands on science things that actually was a success around here :)

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Sue, can you give me any idea how long each task card would have taken for them to exhaust? Would they have spent an hour per task card, or more, or would they have gone through several at a time? Thanks for any insights. I'm glad to hear they enjoyed the Rocks and Minerals, that is one that I'm considering.

 

Nikita

 

It varied. They did 2 task cards a day. I think on average it took them 60 minutes to do both.

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