Boys and science just seem to go hand in hand. If they’re not taking stuff apart to see how it works, they’re mixing stuff together to see if it’ll blow up. Ben is no different. My boy l.o.v.e.s. science. So we were thrilled to have the chance to review a science curriculum from AIMS Educational Foundation. AIMS is a non-profit education foundation dedicated to helping teachers give students a solid conceptual understanding in math and science. Math and Science . . . that’s all they do. And they do it well.
A ctivities
I integrating
M athematics and
S cience
AIMS has been around since 1981 when a group of elementary and middle school teachers got together at Fresno Pacific University to develop a strong, hands-on foundation with activity books. Teachers and students alike loved their product and soon word had spread so that teachers across the nation were using them, and kids were loving learning with them.
AIMS carries a plethera of books for grades K-9, but we chose the science book, Electrical Connections, for grades 4-6. I noticed right away that the book is written with a classroom in mind, with many activities suggesting students be divided into groups, but I found it very easy to adapt to our homeschool use, even with just one child. The book is accompanied by a CD with all the printables you’ll need, including observation sheets and lesson summaries. If you wish to use this book for a co-op, no problem, you can make up to 200 copies.
Electrical Connections is divided into 4 sections:
- Static Electricity
- Circuits
- Electromagnetism
- History of Electricity
We began at the very beginning with static electricity. Each lesson begins with a key question, learning goals, and a materials list. Most of the items needed are fairly common household items such as plastic wrap, paper clips, salt, styrofoam, thread, aluminum foil, balloons, batteries, etc. But as you get further into the lessons there are some items you may not have handy at home, such as aligator clips, copper wiring, battery holders and light bulbs. No worries though, most of these items can be purchased at your local hardware store, or if you want to make it really easy on yourself, purchase one of the pre-made kits sold on AIMS website. Warning though . . . these kits are for the classroom, so unless you’re purchasing for a co-op, it’ll be a lot cheaper to head on over to Home Depot.
Ben has thoroughly enjoyed the work we’ve done with this book so far. He was simply amazed at the static electricity experiments, and I was thrilled at all of the background information given for each experiment. That part made it so easy for me to explain to Ben what was happening with things like positive and negative electrons. The book even steps you through what questions to ask your student to help them think about what is happening or to hypothesize about what may happen. And in the end, it offers suggestions for extension activities.
We will continue to use Electrical Connections throughout this school year, and I have no doubt we’ll be purchasing more activity books from AIMS. Ben has already been perusing their website to see what he wants to do next. He has his eye on the books about the weather for sure!
With a total of about 34 lessons, you could stretch this book out over an entire school year, doing one lesson per week, or for a semester by doing 2 lessons per week. I have a feeling we’ll be finished before our first semester is over. Ben begs to do science every day!
Click here to see a preview of this book.
Click here to learn more about the company.
Click here to purchase Electrical Connections through the AIMS website for $24.95.
Click here to see what other members of the TOS CREW thought about books from AIMS Educational Foundation. Several other books were reviewed including Primarily Magnets, Getting Into Geometry, Solve It! 3rd, Earth Book, and Area Formulas for Parallelograms, Triangles and Trapezoids.
Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are those of myself and/or my son.
