Posted by EKS on 16:17 Sep 17
In Reply to: Science spine recommendations...unnecessarily long, sorry posted by Melissa in the desert
We are using the Simple Machines cluster, which is actually 5 nutshells in one box. It was expensive, but it will carry us half way through the year doing science 4 days/week. Each activity has thorough, clear background information and explanations. The kits are just about complete with good quality materials (no hunting for materials around the house or worse, finding broken materials in the kit). I also got some supplemental reading to go with the kit, like a book about simple machines in ancient times. The whole thing is keeping me on track with doing science almost daily, in a "do the next thing" sort of way with very little or no preparation. Also, I have notice no "dumbing down" of science concepts so far, which as a former scientist myself, I really appreciate.
I *highly* recommend the Science in a Nutshell kits (with supplemental reading) as a way to get science done consistantly and with very little preparation.