Hello everyone! Today, I get to share with you a review about a great online science curriculum for middle school and high school students.
Fascinating Education is an online science curriculum that uses an audio-visual style to teach science in an easy step by step approach. For this review, the kids and I were given a one year subscription to use all three courses: Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.
Fascinating Education is science curriculum that was created by Dr. Margulies. He found a way to engage kids in the world of science. With colorful images, he brought science to life. By fostering a love of science, he is helping kids and the world around us.
We used the
Fascinating Biology course for this review! Since we were already studying plants and the human body. I felt the biology course would be a better fit for us.
In the Fascinating Biology course there are 18 classes/lessons. The following topics are covered over the 18 lessons.
- What is Life
- Chemistry Review
- The Cell Membrane
- Take in Nutrients
- Take in Energy
- Grow
- Reproduce
- Homeostasis
- Adapt
- Protists, Animals, and Fungi
- Plants
The lessons are videos that can be watched on your child's computer or tablet. The videos are essentially colorful powerpoint presentations. The lessons cover a lot of information. The main topic is broken down into sub-topics. A lot of vocabulary is introduced, so a notebook for note taking or vocabulary may come in handy. Turning the vocabulary words into spelling words would be an a great way to help with learning. Lessons last about 20. If you find the lesson are too long or if you want to break down the information being introduced, you can simply pause it and come back. There are spots throughout the video where the lesson can be paused and still make sense. After watching the lesson, students can take an multiple choice quiz to see what they learned, This can be done online or parents can print out the test. There is a tab where parents or students can print out the lesson to review or answer questions may have come up.
So what did we think?
The set up process was super easy! I was able to log in and get the kids started immediately. The lesson were easy to find. I didn't have to spend hours trying to figure out where things where or how to use the program. I really liked how the curriculum is self paced. You can go as slow or fast as you want.
I thought the videos contained bright, colorful images. The narrator's voice was crisp and clear. He did become a little monotonous at times. The kids said he was dull. I did see the kids losing interest, so we would pause and take a break. There is a lot of information covered, so breaking up the lesson into 2 parts wouldn't be a bad idea anyway. I used this program with both my children, a 6th/7th grader and a 5th grader. My 5th grader had a harder time following along. It was a little too advanced for her in some areas. The chemistry review was above her, but to be fair we didn't do the Fascinating Chemistry curriculum. If you were using it with older children this may not be a problem.
The Fascinating Education science program is based on the evolution theory of science and not creationism. This was explained in the very first lesson. The narrator does acknowledges that there is a difference between science and religion. The lessons are not anti-religion. I explained to my children that is if you are going to study science (or any subject for that matter), you should be well learned in all areas and aspects of a topic. They should be able to back up their point of view. Without all the knowledge, they can't do that. If families are not comfortable learning the evolution theory or want their kids exposed to this theory than this program probably wouldn't be the best fit for them. I wasn't too worried since, we were using this as a supplement.
Overall, I think Fascinating Biology was extremely well done. Want to learn more about the other subjects covered by Fascinating Education just clink on the box below!
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