Teaching Tool Tuesday - Exploration Education Science Curriculum

Last year at the FPEA convention, I swore that I wouldn't buy a science curriculum. Ten months later, I can't really remember why I said that - considering I have a science-aholic on my hands - but the point is that I did in fact buy one.

When I saw the Exploration Education booth at the convention, their products immediately caught my eye. The elementary physical science kit for grades K-3 consists of four projects to build and use for activities and experiments covering 36 topics. The projects include:

- A car to learn about Force
- A magnetic sailboat to learn about Magnets & Electricity
- A balance scale / ruler to learn about Matter
- A top to learn about Light & Sound

At some point in the fall, Noah got into the kit, built everything and started working his way through the computer-based activities. For spring, we'll be going back one by one so I can get a better for feel for what he's learned.

My initial reaction is that the set is very engaging. I love that there's a project to build for each topic that is used for a series of related lessons. For example, the car from the Force topic is used for experiments and activities for force, gravity, location, energy, speed, machines, wheels, friction, push/pull and motion.

On the downside. I feel that the curriculum is very basic. The computer-based content is simple yet effective, but the workbook doesn't hold his interest at all (the first activity for the "force" lesson was coloring). Honestly, I could see him buzzing through the whole thing in a few days, which is what I think he did. But, I'm using this second go-round to expand on each topic on our own; it's definitely a good introduction to physical science and provides me with a good idea of topics to cover more comprehensively.