For the last month, John, Kayla, and Grace have been testing out Science4Us. If you’re looking for a science curriculum online, look no further.
From Science4Us
Science4Us is a comprehensive web-based digital science curriculum for elementary students that includes all of the components necessary for teachers and parents to provide an exemplary science experience for all learners. It is standards based using the inquiry-based 5E Instructional Model.
Science4Us recognizes that not all classrooms are created equally. As such, the curriculum is designed to be flexible in nature and able to meet the needs of individual classrooms without adding additional software. Teachers can implement the curriculum using one computer for a whole group lesson or several computers for small group instruction. Also, because Science4us is web-based, students can access Science4Us individually in a media center or even at home on the family computer.
The Science4Us lesson plans are a one stop resource for preparing for your science class time. The lesson plans include activity previews, a suggested sequence for the activities, an approximate time-frame for each session, details about the objectives of each activity and informative videos.
Track student progress with automated student reports. Within the student reports, you can view activity completions, percentages received on scored activities, student answers to the evaluations, and student notebook entries.
The verdict?
I enjoyed having something the kids could do mostly independently that had individual reporting. We used it as a summer supplement to expose them to science concepts I knew they probably hadn’t seen before.
While some of the user-interface and game are not always intuitive, the kids enjoyed having some school on the computer.
That leads me to another downfall. I try to stay away from computer-based school as much as possible but if you don’t mind that part, Science4Us could be a great option for you.
All that to say, there are corresponding lesson plans for offline reinforcement and learning.
This is a great tool if teaching science intimidates you and you want a simple, turnkey, levelled curriculum. It’s also great if you are trying to parallel national standards.
The price tag is $7.95 per student per month. With 6 kids, this is pricier than I would spend on a science curriculum but it may be totally worth it to you for the convenience.
Disclaimer: I was provided with a free 30-day trial in order to complete this review.
Thanks for this review. I’ve also had the chance to review Science4Us. My daughter is a bit old for the curriculum but it would have been exactly what we were looking for when she was in the grades it is designed for. My daughter has ADHD and is a visual learner so the online aspect of the program would be a great match for her. She doesn’t like things that seem like a blatant repeat of previous information so the way the program presents information in different formats would appeal to her. I can see where it might be difficult for a large family, but for families with fewer children it would be a great program. Thanks again for the review!