There is more to a well rounded science education than memorizing facts and doing “experiments” that are merely hands-on activities designed to teach some more facts or develop some lab techniques.
Students must also learn how to think clearly, ask good questions, design experiments, organize data, and communicate their thoughts clearly and convincingly to others. Those are skills that improve performance on examinations, improve writing ability across the disciplines, and increase the likelihood of success in college. Those are skills for success in life! And yet, these essential skills are rarely given enough attention in traditional science curricula.
SciSpark is designed to work alongside any standard science curriculum: our members receive training in all of those essential skills, and in interesting ways.
Each month, members are provided with a new investigation called a SuperSpark that requires considerable thought and imagination; a shorter thought provoking activity called a MiniSpark, designed to wake the brain up and get students thinking “out of the box;” and a Science Around You (SAY) activity that gets students thinking in interesting ways about some of the science behind major news stories. (Note: The Science Around You that members have access to is more interactive than the version that is available to the general public.)
We’ll also be posting occasional “bonus” activities for members.
Many of our activities encourage students to involve family and friends, and all promote further interaction and a sense of community by encouraging students to share their thoughts on our Student Response Board.
Some of the activities are “hands on;” even so, they are always designed to promote thinking rather than to simply teach routine laboratory techniques.
In addition, parents are encouraged to interact with each other by joining a monthly “brainstorming” phone call with other parents and either Jan, Tony, or both.
Full Membership
Why not sign up now? We’d love to have you aboard, and part of our learning community! For only $5 /month you will have a FULL Membership! (You only have to enter your credit card payment one time and you will be billed automatically each month.) Of course you can cancel at any time.
The sign-up process is in 3 steps. First, so that we can get you into our email system to tell you when new materials are available, please enter your name and email address below. Then you will be taken to the payment page to start your membership. Lastly, you will taken to a page to create your user name and password (if you are not redirected there, please contact us).
