Feedback wanted -- Joy Hakim's Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way

[provenance61]

Has anyone used Joy Hakim's Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way?  There is also a student quest notebook, and I understand that Johns Hopkins University was involved.

Our co-op is offering a class based on this curriculum, and I'm interested in any and all feedback about the text -- readability, engaging or not, quality of hands-on experiments, etc.  Did your child like it and learn from it?   This is for a bright 6th grade student.  We have to choose between this and an Apologia General Science course, and am a bit concerned with readings that are too dry or long without visuals or hands-on work.

Thanks!

[provenance61]

Bumping -- any feedback?

 

[MinivanMom]

We have used the book as a fun addition to our history curriculum, so I don't have any experience with the student quest notebook or the experiments. My kids just read, outlined, and discussed the chapters, but they loved the series. Neither of them are huge science kids, but they both say that the Story of Science series was their favorite curriculum during the middle school years. It's a very different, historical-type approach to how our knowledge of science has developed over time, but it's very interesting and well-written.

The series is secular, and there is evolutionary content (though maybe not so much in the Aristotle book - perhaps I'm thinking of the 2nd or 3rd book). I just mention that since you are also considering using Apologia. 

[carrierocha]

As an adult I have read through one of Hakim's science books just for my own personal enrichment. It is not like a textbook exactly and I think that Apologia is a straight up textbook. I would think Hakim's would be a more interesting read, but in terms of activities or experiments, I cannot say. Can you ask the co-op tutor for a list of the labs they will be doing alongside the text to help you make a more informed choice?

[Targhee]

If i has to put Story of Science into only one school subject category it would be history. Not science. I think it’s history of science, but that is not the same as science and teaches more of the thinking processes of history. I would not choose it for science.  I think the books are great!! But they are not science.

[Homebody2]

On 7/8/2018 at 7:57 PM, Targhee said:

If i has to put Story of Science into only one school subject category it would be history. Not science. I think it’s history of science, but that is not the same as science and teaches more of the thinking processes of history. I would not choose it for science.  I think the books are great!! But they are not science.

I agree with this. We used it this past year along with our history of ancients. We tied it in with math and geography, too, as there are chapters about longitude and latitude as well as the Pythagorean theorem. My boys, ages 9 and 11, both enjoyed learning how the human knowledge of science grew.

There are no hands on experiments as this really is a history text. It's well written, and the chapters are pretty short. I think the text makes more sense when read in historical context, but you certainly could still gain a lot just reading it on its own.

I guess one could use the book as a guide to create science lessons/experiments based on certain chapters, assuming you use the term science broadly. There could be hands on experiments/projects about math theories, building design, geography, etc. The quality of a course like this would really depend on the teacher and his or her skill at designing something like this. You really need to decide if you want your child to take a structured, traditional science course or something that may be a bit more unconventional and not technically a science experiment focused course at all. 

[Penelope]

They are not science but you could make it enough with the quest notebook and maybe some additional science reading for earlier in middle school.

A few years ago I purchased the first notebook and we started the year with it. But it’s really geared to a classroom experience and as I recall, it didn’t seem like there was enough real hands on science for us. I’d guess there would be more for the third book. 

For me, these books are history, and I like them but have always had a hard time figuring out how to fit them in. We end up reading parts of them, but not scheduled. 

Build Your Library has a whole year of plans based on them, I think it is year 7 or 8. Disclaimer, I haven’t used any of her products, but I did notice that one and thought it looked like an interesting way to do things.