BJU Press Blog

Successful Learning

You want your children to succeed in their education. We do too. We offer practical tips for teaching your children math, science, writing, and more! These tips can be applied to any homeschool curriculum. There are also highlights of our new textbooks with examples of how our curriculum trains your children to have success in their learning.

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What Probeware Is Best for Your High School Student?

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ProbewareIf you saw the introductory video for Biology (5th edition), you heard Rachel mention that the new lab manual uses probeware. (If you haven’t seen the video, you can check it out here.)

What is probeware?

Probeware is an exciting technology that measures a variety of factors using probes and sensors attached to a handheld  interface. Despite the value of lab work, the price of the testing equipment and sensors can be a major impediment. Especially for homeschool families.

Probeware allows your child to detect or measure carbon dioxide, or to measure temperature and pH. But most importantly, probeware allows students to record a series of data points in a spreadsheet for analysis.

This may all sound rather technical, so let me explain how probeware adds value to your homeschool. Probeware allows you to buy one or two devices that can be used in a variety of experiments. It will make your students’ lab experience much more interactive. Generally much simpler to use than the instruments it replaces, probeware makes it easier to incorporate STEM into your curriculum.

How do you use probeware?

Lab 20A in Biology (5th edition) is an inquiry lab that uses probeware to compare how well areas of human skin can recover from cold. A high school student using a more traditional method would measure the temperature from each area of skin using a thermometer, record the temperature on paper or in a spreadsheet, and then repeat the process. But meaningful data requires a number of data points, so the lab time would have to be extended, or the number of areas of skin would have to be limited, possibly to as few as two.

Probeware eliminates this problem by automatically recording the data at a set time interval, giving the student a helpful number of data points in a short time. The student can then move on to the next area of skin. In this way, a student can test more areas in less time and with fewer mistakes. While a thermometer would work, probeware makes this lab more accurate, faster, and—I think your teen will agree—more fun.

What are the different types of probeware?

We wrote our skin temperature lab to be used with the Vernier LabQuest probeware system. Recently, we were introduced to the Globisens Labdisc. This system could also be used for the skin temperature lab without any problem. By researching and working with both systems, we discovered the strengths and weaknesses of each one.

Vernier LabQuest

Vernier LabQuest is a high-quality high school and college level system featuring well-built and easy-to-use probes and a separately sold interface. It makes two interfaces (the LabQuest® 2 and the LabQuest® Mini) and dozens of individual probes. This makes the LabQuest® highly customizable, allowing the user to purchase only the probes needed. The downside of this product is the price. While not unusual for this type of device, a price tag of $329 for each LabQuest® 2 interface probably isn’t realistic for the average homeschool family. Vernier also offers a less sophisticated LabQuest® Mini for $149. Individual probes range in cost from $29 to $299.

Globisens Labdisc

Rather than using a single interface and dozens of separate probes, Globisens Labdisc integrates most of the sensors directly into the interface and includes any additional probes in a single package. Labdisc comes in four versions:

  • GenSci—designed for general science
  • Enviro—for environmental science
  • BioChem—for biology and chemistry
  • Physio—for physics

The units cost $599 apiece, with the exception of the BioChem unit, which retails for $699. For many homeschool families, the price (significantly cheaper than the combined cost of a LabQuest interface and individual probes) makes Labdisc more cost effective.

Its two main downsides are lower quality and lack of customization. The Labdisc unit’s plastic shell feels brittle. Given the wear and tear a unit is likely to experience in the hands of middle and high school students, a Labdisc unit may not hold up well over the long term. Secondly, integrating the sensors directly into four separate interfaces makes customization impossible. If you find that your unit does not contain a sensor you need, you have to purchase an entire unit rather than just an additional probe.

Summary

If you’re considering buying probeware for your high school student, either of these would be a good purchase. However, if your budget is tight and you don’t need a lot of customization, the Labdisc might be right for you. If money is less of an object and you value quality and customizability, you might find the LabQuest to be just what you’re looking for.

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Elwood holds a BA in biology and an MA in English from Bob Jones University. After working with the video lesson department at BJU Press for five years, he now serves as a secondary-level science writer at BJU Press. When not working, he enjoys taking random college classes, reading, playing disc golf, and hanging out with his wife and three kids.

An Experience That Changed Everything

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Civil War Experience

When I was about nine years old, my dad decided to take me to a local Civil War reenactment. I’m from a small town that’s famous for having one of the best reenactments around, drawing thousands of people every year. I loved history and had studied the Civil War, so my excitement for this trip rivaled that of going to Disney World.

I walked around taking it all in. Everything was just as I had read and expected it to be—men and women cooking over campfires next to their tents, sharing stories from the past; the sound of cannon blasts so loud that my ears hurt; soldiers in uncomfortable-looking uniforms carrying rifles with bayonets that made them taller than the men carrying them. It was all so epic.

Then I heard it. A man screaming in pain, or at least acting like it. I turned the corner and saw the medical tent. I froze. The pile of severed limbs covered in “blood” had probably been purchased from a novelty store, but they were all too real to my pre-adolescent eyes. A man in a once white, now crimson apron was wielding an instrument that looked a lot like my dad’s hacksaw. Then I noticed the “wounded” man surrounded by several other men holding him down. Young as I was, I could easily figure out what was going to happen next. The experience shocked me. What I had just witnessed was all I could think about for the rest of the day.

My entire understanding of the Civil War changed in an instant. It wasn’t as though I hadn’t read about the medical treatments of the time, but that was just words in a textbook that I quickly glossed over to get to the exciting battles. Now the realities of the war had become palpable for me.

Sometimes the only way to learn about something in a way that allows for true understanding is to experience it. In many cases, we think we (or our children) understand a topic only to find out that we really didn’t comprehend it at all. That’s why learning activities are so important. Actually experiencing something builds a foundation for learning that you can’t create by merely reading a book or watching a video. Not all activities and experiences need to be shocking like my example. In fact, most won’t be. But simple activities, such as this balloon craft, put skills taught in a lesson into a physical form and accomplish the same thing.

That’s why I always encourage homeschool parents to also purchase the Teacher Editions of BJU Press textbooks.  Parents typically don’t have time to come up with creative activities to reinforce each lesson. The Teacher Editions make this simple by including a large variety of activities for different learning styles.  The time you save in planning and the benefit to your child’s learning experience easily offset the extra expense.

Be sure to check out some learning activity ideas in the posts below.

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Spelling Skills for the Real World

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BJU Press SpellingOne morning, my second-grade daughter was taking a heritage studies test when she complained, “Mom, this question doesn’t make sense.”

I came to look and immediately saw the problem. My husband, who writes the heritage studies tests for our daughter, had accidentally typed on instead of own so the resulting question was confusing. Once I fixed the spelling mistake, my daughter knew immediately what he was asking and was able to complete the test without much difficulty.

Poor spelling often leads to poor communication. Any mom who has received notes from very small children knows this. My five-year-old daughter often gives me invitations to pretend parties that she throws for her dolls. I usually have to ask her to confirm the details because I have no idea what words like kokes (cookies) and juse (juice) refer to.

Clear Communication

The main reason we teach our children spelling is because we want them to be clear communicators. One of the reasons I love the BJU Press spelling program is that it offers more than just a list of words to memorize every week. It uses an interactive approach to teaching so that my daughter will understand why words are spelled the way they are and will be able to apply reliable spelling patterns to words not on the weekly spelling list. This understanding enables her to apply what she’s learning to real-world written communication.

My daughter gets a lot of opportunities to practice written communication skills in spelling class because her student worktext is filled with writing activities such as writing a recipe, a letter, an invitation, or a journal entry.  My daughter has also learned how to use a dictionary and is regularly challenged to proofread short paragraphs.

Application

Even now, when my daughter sits down to write a thank-you note for a birthday gift or compose a creative story, she’s careful with her spelling and takes the time to look up how to spell words she doesn’t know. And every once in a while, she’ll point out spelling errors in the tests that my husband and I write for her. I’m proud of her—she’s a better speller than I was at her age.

If you’re interested, you can take a look at the Spelling 3 materials we’ll be using in our homeschool this coming year. I’m sure you’ll love them as much as I do.

Getting Excited About Logos Science Kits

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Have you discovered the Logos Science Kits yet? These kits were designed specifically for BJU Press secondary-level science courses, and they’re packed with tools, supplies, equipment, and clear instructions to help young homeschool scientists succeed!

Mr. Bill Harmon, a Distance Learning teacher, uses the Logos Science kits during his instruction sessions. As a chemist and a teacher of junior and senior high science and math courses, he appreciates the ingenuity of the Logos Science labs. The instructions are well-written, and the authors came up with creative ways to accomplish the labs in a homeschool setting.

Step-by-Step Guidance 

In using the labs for chemistry, Mr. Harmon adopted a “cooking show” style of presentation, revealing each step of the procedure and showing students a sample of the results they should see. “I leave the conclusion questions up to the student,” he explains. “That part is theirs to complete, along with noting any temperature variations of the experiment.”

For almost every lab, students can do all the setup and experimentation on their own, without an extra pair of hands. Thanks to the ten- to twelve-minute videos, students have a guide to help them succeed as they manipulate the materials and use the equipment.

Location, Location

Mr. Harmon recommends storing the materials and supplies for the labs in a dry, climate-controlled space so they will not degrade due to heat or cold. When homeschool students perform the lab, he suggests a location like the kitchen or perhaps a bathroom with ample counter space.

Correlation Between the Student Lab Manual and the Kit

According to Mr. Harmon, the student lab manual and the Logos Science Kits work well together. “The kit functions as an addendum to the student lab manual,” he says. “There are about three dozen labs included in each of the Logos kits. I use about thirty of them for the Distance Learning Chemistry course.”

Once in a while, the experiments suggested in the student lab manual and those included in the Logos Science Kit are different. For example, the lab in the student lab manual might be a specific experiment on titration, whereas the Logos kit may have a different experiment on titration. “They’re both teaching the same concept, though,” Mr. Harmon explains. “The kit often does labs on a micro scale. This benefits the homeschool student and prepares him or her for college science labs.”

Amazing Experiments

What’s Mr. Harmon’s favorite lab? While all of them are fascinating, he enjoys the titration lab the most. “When the material goes from clear to pink then disappears, it’s because the atoms that we can’t see are changing color based on their chemical structure,” he says. “It’s cool!”

Contents of the Kit

Logos Science Kits are available for purchase separately from the  other secondary science course materials. When you order your kit, check out the PDF link under the product description to find a list of all the equipment and supplies included . For example, the kit for chemistry makes your life much easier by including science supplies such as pH paper, O2 test tablets, test tubes, a molecular model kit, and dozens of other items and materials.

Each Logos Science Kit has enough materials for four students, which works well for homeschool co-ops, for passing on the kit to younger siblings, or for resale. If you have a young chemistry lover or physics fan in your homeschool, you’ll want to invest in this fantastic supplementary resource to encourage that affinity for science.

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Rebecca is a work-at-home freelance writer, novelist, wife, and the mom of two bright-eyed little ones. She credits her success in writing and her love of books to her own mom, who homeschooled three kids from pre-K through high school.

Why Is the Sky Blue and Other Kindergarten Mysteries

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Hard Questions
If you have young children, you know that soon after they get over saying the word no, their favorite word quickly becomes why. Kindergarteners can ask an average of four hundred questions a day. They’re innately curious, and while their curiosity is healthy, some of their questions can throw you for a loop.

They might ask: Why is water wet? Where does the sky end? What happens if a man turns into a dinosaur while he’s being arrested?

How should you respond to your children’s questions? How do you answer when you know they won’t be able to fully understand? Keep the following points in mind when your children ask questions.

Opportunities for Learning Activities

Many of the questions your children ask could lead to activities that you can do together. Even though they may not understand the explanation, they will enjoy, and probably remember, the activity that goes along with that explanation.

If they ask why the sky is blue, they may not understand about wavelengths, the color spectrum, and how light scatters in the atmosphere, but they would have a lot of fun creating rainbows with water hoses.

If they ask how airplanes stay up, they may not fully realize the significance of thrust and lift, but they might enjoy making paper airplanes and watching how the shape changes the flight.

While these activities won’t completely answer the question, they’ll form a valuable foundation. Later, you will be able to refer back to it when your children can understand.

How Much Your Children Want to Know

A question is almost always a request to begin learning, but how much do your children want to learn? They may accept a short, concise answer that gives them a basic understanding of the concept. Or they may try to understand more complicated concepts by asking even more questions. Giving them a long explanation they didn’t want might make your children think that learning is boring.

So, if your children ask how fish breathe under water, telling them that they have gills might be enough. But you may also find yourself explaining how gills filter oxygen out of the water.

Taking Questions Seriously

It’s easy to brush off a complicated question with an empty explanation. For example, when I was little, my family liked to answer questions with “it’s magic.” For us, it was a code for “I don’t know, and you’re too young to understand anyway.”

How might children’s impressions of learning change if, every time adults didn’t know the answer, they responded with “I don’t know, but why don’t we see if we can find out together?”

By taking their questions seriously, you may instill in your children a willingness to find out, even about the simplest of questions, and you may catch them using your methods for finding out on their own.

There will never be enough time in a day to thoroughly answer all four hundred questions your kindergartners might ask. But by taking time to answer some of your children’s questions, you can foster their curiosity and love of learning. What kinds of unexpected or surprising questions have your children asked? How did you answer them?