Reviews for Laboratory outlines in biology--IV

The average rating for Laboratory outlines in biology--IV based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-03-28 00:00:00 Jason McGhee This is a great book for the mom who wants to help a curious child learn a little about the world. The experiments are super simple (which is great for busy moms) and many can be done with what is lying around the house (which is great for moms who don't have the time to plan ahead all the time). I don't have to be super knowledgeable to use the book. And while some reviewers had a problem with these activities being called experiments, I don't. Maybe she should have called them easy activities for young children. But either way, my child is having a great time with what we've been doing. I love that each experiment starts with a question. Why do dogs pant? for example. My biggest beef with my science education is that I never understood why we were doing any experiments and I didn't have enough knowledge to be able to put the pieces together myself. I believe that if I had been asked these kinds of questions and THEN we had done the experiment, it would have been much more interesting and I would have learned more. (I've been learning science through my children's education!) So, just to drive the point home: Pretty much every science book I have purchased or gotten from the library has sat on my shelf unused or barely used. But because these are so simple, it is easy to say, "Hey, let's do a quick experiment" while we are between other activities. If you are this type of mom (or dad), grab this book. If you are looking for more in-depth science experiments, leave this one on the shelf and grab something else.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-06-14 00:00:00 Robin Reichard First of all, let's be clear that these are definitely NOT experiments. The book is all models and demonstrations. One of the first "experiments" is in answer to the question, "Do plants have skeletons?" If my son asked this, I'd take him outside and cut open a dandelion, and ask it right back. But, if he then asked, "So if not, how do they stand up?" I might turn to this book's suggested project-- making a ziploc baggie model of a cell and putting it inside a shoebox. I might. I like this book best as a list of leading science questions. My other children have been pretty curious about how things work, but my youngest does not ponder the material world as much as the human one. Instead I'll have to ask him, "Do plants have skeletons?" and all the other questions in this book. And I won't feel too concerned about sending it back to the library while we figure out the answers ourselves.