“I’m wondering if you could recommend a homeschool science curriculum that might compliment your Science Mastery program? The kids I am teaching range in age from 8-12.” ~Amiee

This is probably one of the most-asked questions we get by email, phone, fax, and in-person. And it is the difficult one to answer, because the homeschool curriculum you select depends on your ultimate goals. Aurora has written about this sort of thing before – about how you need to know where you are going before you get there. An airplane always knows where it plans to land before take-off… and so should your choice of homeschool science curriculum.

Do you want your kid to be the next Einstein, or just appreciate the folks in the white lab coats and goggles? Do you want to expose your students to a wide spectrum of different kinds of science, or do you want a full immersion program in one specific area?

Because we get this question about evaluating homeschool science curriculum a lot, we decided to really see what’s out there and offer the top notch ones as an add-in option for future editions of Science Mastery.

What does that mean? It means our lab is now exploding with all sorts of chemical sets, science kits, textbooks, audio and videos, tests, quizzes, answer keys, and such as we put each and every one to the ultimate test and figure out which one does the job of really bringing science real for your family. We’ll tell you more about what we’re doing as how we’re evaluating each program as we get further into the process.

To give you an example: We purchased every fuel cell car kit on the market, only to have Aurora modify each and every one, making it easier to understand, less cumbersome to build, more scope for the project, and have a broader spectrum than just making the one project. And it wasn’t until we stumbled across a fuel cell car kit from a place that actually makes the conversion kits for real cars that Aurora was finally satisfied with adding it to our Science Mastery Diamond program as Alternative Energy II.

(We won’t even mention how many chemistry sets she’s gone through and ripped up because of hieroglyphic directions or the activity produced minimal results or worse… the directions didn’t inform the user of the hazards of the chemicals used in the experiment.)

If you’re still on a cliff and really want name brands, well… lots of folks who are currently working through Science Mastery are also using homeschool science curriculum such as Bob Jones, Apologia, Alpha-Omega, A Beka, and others, both Christian and non-Christian. Science Mastery really makes the ideas and theories come alive as kids get to roll around and make these ideas their own through real hands-on discover and exploration.

Many families have asked the same question you have, though, and so we are currently in the process of reviewing ALL science curriculum we can get our hands on so we can include the top notch ones as an add-on option. We should know more in a few months – stay tuned for results as we post them to this blog and to the website. You can check out future editions of Science Mastery that are currently being released: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond are in the line-up and will be available mid-May.

More soon!
The Supercharged Science Team

We’re back in the lab this week as we’re currently between shows (just returned from one this morning, and we’re here until mid-May), so I have a chance to write about a few experiments you can do right now with things already around your house… specifically, with your homeschool science curriculum textbook. I’m going to zero in on the Apologia Physics textbook in particular, but any text will work just fine.

Why am I writing about this? Well, we have received quite the flurry of emails over the past few weeks from families begging for help with their current homeschool science curriculum… which I think was spurred by another article I recently posted about how sloppy definitions get in the way of really figuring out how stuff works. I’ll try my best to answer your questions in the blog, so stay tuned over the next few postings…

Question: “Is there any way to really show my kids how air resistance is not related to weight? My kids are 4, 6, 7, 12, and 17 years. Thanks in advance.” ~S. Larson, Delaware

Sure – there is an easy and fun way to do this. If you’re working with the Apologia Physics textbook, just flip it open to page 60-61 (2nd edition) and you’ll find Experiment 2.3 that outlines how different factors affect air resistance. It basically has you hold up a sheet of paper and a wadded up sheet of paper at arm’s length and drop both at the same time. Most kids will be able to tell you that the wadded up paper hits the ground first.

Let’s go above and beyond this experiment. Are you ready?

With the paper experiment above, both objects weight exactly the same, but their shape is different. Hmmm… so it looks like shape affects drag somehow. Imagine sticking your hand out the car window, palm-up. Now rotate your wrist ninety degrees so your palm faces the sunset. Which way does your hand feel the most amount of force? When the wind “sees” more (your entire palm) or less (the edge-on view) of your hand?

So shape and size matter when it comes to drag. What about weight? What if you have a golf ball and a ping pong ball, and you drop them from the same height at the same time? Both are roughly the same size, but one weighs a fraction of the other.

Which one hits the ground first?

Most people will, without hesitation, put their money on the golf ball. But what do YOU think?

Well, don’t just read about it… go get a golf ball and ping pong ball, and whatever else you have that’s the same size and shape that you can drop and compare. (Wadded up paper ball?) What do you find?

If you’re still reading, and you haven’t tried this, then STOP reading and start throwing things around the house. This is the fun part of science. And if you paid your gravity bill, you should get the same results as someone on the other side of the world.

Okay, so did you find that the golf ball and ping pong ball landed at exactly the same time from the same height? So does weight really matter with drag? It doesn’t seem to!

One of my favorite experiments from the Aeronautics Kit is when we have kids build things that mathematically speaking, aren’t supposed to fly. They look like they should ‘fall’ right out of the sky, but instead they soar and flip all over the place. We here at Supercharged Science really want you to do real science with your kids in a way that turns their brain into a pretzel and question what they are really seeing.

The golf ball and ping pong ball does this in a way that the wadded up paper experiment doesn’t. Both experiments give valuable information, but only one engages the bored student who is harder to reach.

So… what if you take your Apologia textbook and a marble and drop both from the same height? Which do you predict will hit the ground first? Have fun!

We know that Physics is a hard topic to teach, so we thought we would help you tackle it in a fun and meaningful way… through building Roller Coasters! After finishing our Roller Coaster Physics science teleclass, we often receive lots of emailed questions, and I wanted to share a common question we usually get after this particular class. Have you had this confusion also?

Before answering, I checked through several textbooks out there on the market for homeschool science curriculums, such as Apologia, Bob Jones, and A Beka to see what kind of information was out there. It wasn’t until I pulled out my university textbooks did I get a crystal-clear definition that made sense to the reader. So here’s the gist of the reply email I sent to Andrea:

Ah, yes… these two words constantly throw college students into a frenzy, partially because there is no clear definition in most textbooks. As I best understand it, centripetal (translation = “center-seeking”) force is the force needed to keep an object following a curved path. Remember how objects will travel in a straight line unless they bump into something or have another force acting on it (gravity, drag force, etc.)? Well, to keep the bucket of water swinging in a curved arc, the centripetal force can be felt in the tension experienced by the handle (or your arm, in our case). Swinging an object around on a string will cause the rope to undergo tension (centripetal force), and if your rope isn’t strong enough, it will snap and break, sending the mass flying off in a tangent (straight) line until gravity and drag force pull the object to a stop. This force is proportional to the square of the speed… the faster you swing the object, the higher the force.

Centrifugal (translation = “center-fleeing”) force has two different definitions, which also causes confusion. The inertial centrifugal force is the most widely referred to, and is purely mathematical, having to do with calculating kinetic forces using reference frames, and is used with Newton’s laws of motion. It’s often referred to as the ‘fictitious force’.

The other kind, reactive centrifugal force, happens when objects move in a curved path. This force is actually the same magnitude as centripetal force, but in the opposite direction, and you can think of it as the reaction force to the centripetal force. Think of how you stand on the Earth… your weight pushes down on the Earth, and a reaction force (called the “normal” force) pushes up in reaction to your weight, keeping you from falling to the center of the Earth. A centrifugal governor (spinning masses that regulate the speed of an engine) and a centrifugal clutch (spinning disk with two masses separated by a spring inside) are examples of this kind of force in action.

One more example: Imagine driving a car along a banked turn. The road exerts a centripetal force on the car, keeping the car moving in a curved path (the “banked” turn). If you neglected to buckle your seat belt and the seats have a fresh coat of Armor-All (making them slippery), then as the car turns along the banked curve, you get “shoved” toward the door. But who pushed you? No one – your body wanted to continue in a straight line but the car keeps moving in your path, turning your body in a curve. The push of your weight on the door is the reactive centrifugal force, and the car pushing on you is the centripetal force.

What about the fictitious (inertial) centrifugal force? Well, if you imagine being inside the car as it is banking with the windows blacked out, you suddenly feel a magical ‘push’ toward the door away from the center of the bend. This “push” is the fictitious force invoked because the car’s motion and acceleration is hidden from you (the observer) in the reference frame moving within the car.

Hopefully you can use this information to add to your homeschool science curriculum, whichever you choose. If you’re searching for more great ideas to expand your current curriculum, you can participate in the next free homschool science teleclass by clicking here. Good luck and happy experimenting!

We’re coming to Virginia! We need your help spreading the word about Aurora coming to town. We’re bringing over 1,000 pounds of science equipment to the HEAV homeschool convention in Richmond, Virginia June 11-13, 2009 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, and we wanted to personally invite to you visit our booth! (Yes, the lightening machine will be there again, but that isn’t why we thought you’d want to visit. Read on…)

The Supercharged Science booth is an extraordinary place for homeschool families. Since 1996, our team has sparked the minds of thousands of K-12 students in physics, chemistry, and engineering.

Supercharged Science offers exciting hands-on science workshops, science kits, and complete science learning programs for homeschool families. Our programs may be used independently, or to complement other programs such as Apologia science.

Aurora needs your help spreading the word about the Supercharged Science booth, which has a LOT of different things going on top help you expand your homeschool science curriculum. Here’s what you need to know:

Supercharged Science Booth #126 is easy to spot. Just look for the neon-orange, eight-foot tall rocket (yes, it’s real). While you’re there, you can play with everything we have: if you can wire up a motor to go forward and reverse using one of our switches on the electric boards, you’ll win a free laser. And you’ll also get the chance to levitate collapsible objects, make your hair stand on end, fire music on a laser beam, and zoom fuel cell race cars powered by only water and sunlight.

Aurora will be performing free science shows throughout the day, but here are the biggies: The Rocketry Show is at 12:00pm and the Chemistry Show starts at 4:10pm on both Friday and Saturday.

To everyone who charges into our booth because of this email, we have a free gift for you: we’ll show you how to make a Gauss Rifle AND teach you how to turn it into a winning science fair project. Just mention how you helped pass the word long or dragged a friend into our booth and we’ll give you everything you need to know to build your own.

Can you help Aurora spread the word? Aurora needs your help to get the word out. It’s easy, I promise.

Just forward this blog posting to your local homeschool group with a quick note asking them to send it out to people in the group. Let them know how excited you are about this opportunity. You can ask them to help spread the word to their member families so everyone gets the chance to participate. They want to be sure that this is really what parents want before they promote it.

And of course, forward this info to any friends who you think might be interested.

So if you want your kids to get the chance to spend time with Aurora at the convention, learning more science than you thought possible (and having fun at it), please help us spread the word – even just one email to a friend letting them know how great this convention will be can help us make this an incredible experience for your kids.

Thank you for your help! I look forward to seeing you soon!

See you in Virginia!

First, I want to thank all of you who take the time to write to us, whether via email or by comments to these blog postings. Your feedback in what keeps us on course in providing you with the best science education out there.

Along those lines, we’ve recently been alerted to a science video we recently published which contained offensive material. The video, Water Fire, demonstrated how to start a fire from a single drop of water… but that wasn’t the offense part. It was the camera crew’s reaction to the explosion that was left in the final edit which was the offender, for that, I truly apologize.

Thank you to Amy for letting us know your thoughts – and you’re right. This is NOT something we wish to have out there. Please accept our apologies and know that the video clip has been pulled from our files for editing and will be release at a later date. We are very sorry for any trouble, and will strive to aim higher with each step we take.

Warmly,
Aurora

Supercharged Science
www.SuperchargedScience.com