Austin was excited that he got to review this workbook by The Critical Thinking Co. called Surfing the Net: Science.
What did we receive
We received a physical copy of the workbook entitled Surfing the Net: Science from The Critical Thinking Co. in the mail.
The workbook has 250 pages and 7 sections along with the answers section:
[list style=”style6″]
[li]Animals[/li]
[li]Atmosphere[/li]
[li]Ecosystems and Habitats[/li]
[li]Energy[/li]
[li]Geology[/li]
[li]Plants[/li]
[li]Space[/li]
[/list]
Each section will have them:
[list style=”style6″]
[li]Defining[/li]
[li]Describing[/li]
[li]Analyzing and Synthesizing[/li]
[li]Expanding Knowledge[/li]
[li]Investigating[/li]
[/list]
This book is recommended for Grades 3-6.
How did we use it
As the book name suggests “surfing the net”, that is what they are doing for the activities. They will either be:
[list style=”style1″]
[li]Watch a video[/li]
[li]search for images[/li]
[li]Use a website[/li]
[li]Take a quiz[/li]
[li]Play a game[/li]
[li]View an animation[/li]
[li]Use an interactive website[/li]
[li]Read an article[/li]
[/list]
As you can see it's not just another workbook, it's an offline plus online workbook! In some sections they are even writing paragraphs.
Since Austin loves using the computer every chance he gets, he really liked this workbook. And since it's like doing a scavenger hunt, looking up different keywords and websites, he thought he was playing a game, but he was actually learning at the same time. What parent can't ask for that!
So for example, on the page about animal cells, he had to use the key words to find the answers to 5 questions, then he had to search for pictures of an animal cell and using a separate sheet of paper, draw and label parts of the animal cell using the words from a box of words.
What did we think
Like I said, Austin really enjoyed looking at different sites, it was truly like a scavenger hunt for him. I like that the book is loaded with different activities for them to do. Cameron wants me to find one for his grade level! I also liked how it made him think, it didn't say go to this site and there's the answer, it said look up the key words and answer the questions. So first he would have to determine what the key words were in the questions, then he would have to do a search, and then he would have to choose the best word that made sense for those set of questions.
Austin liked looking up all the different videos and interactive websites that he got to play around on.
I liked that it made him write paragraphs instead of just short one to two words for each question, it made him think.
Oh, and I also liked how they have charts and comparing and contrasting in some of the sections, that really made him have to think about that particular topic.
The only thing that I thought about was what would happen if they took down the websites, but then I know that it's science, and that if one site doesn't work then there are a million other sites that have the same information.
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