Teacher Testimonials
We are thoroughly enjoying the Intro to Physics course at Annapolis! My 8-9th graders have expressed a desire for all of their classes to be mastery oriented after their experience so far, as they have come to recognize the value of learning material for long-term retention. They LOVED coming into their 1st semester final having had to barely study, only review, and complete the test with a class average of 86.
Accelerated Studies in Physics and Chemistry is an excellent book for freshmen in high school. The book is written in a very consistent and logical manner and it is mainly designed to train the student’s mind about applying a logical and systematic approach for solving problems.
It is not a secret that most of freshmen college students struggle in the STEM fields in general, and unfortunately a lot of times this struggle leads the students to abandon their dreams and pursue different careers. This struggle comes from lack of training in their high school years where the Cram-Pass-Forget cycle is inherited, due to school material that is designed mainly from the perspective of marketing and making money, rather than helping the student to actually learn and understand the material.
ASPC not only accomplishes the goal of providing the student with a solid STEM foundation, but most importantly, it does it from a Christ-Centered manner where the worship is refocus in the Creator rather than in the creation. I highly recommend ASPC as an excellent textbook that makes the experience of learning simple and joyful, and that my students found it as an excellent science introduction in their freshman year of high school.
I like how clearly the Principles for Science Instruction were laid out [in Teaching Science so That Students Learn Science]. It was communicated that science is not just facts but process within the context of philosophy, namely a biblical worldview. These principles are clear, that science needs to be taught by encouraging deepening learning than just memorizing facts.
I also appreciated the author’s position about holding students to the rigor of qualitative analysis and challenging them with it even if they say they struggle to understand. I agree that students can learn more than they think they can.
The assessment section was well done. It offered a variety of options and rationales for assessing students fairly and even working with struggling students.”
Regarding Novare Physical Science: “The organization of units has fluidity with age appropriate cognition ability. I like how well the topics of physics and chemistry were integrated throughout the unit plans. The integrated experiments were excellent and mostly inquiry-based. The book encourages teachers to use Lab Notebooks or Lab Reports where students have to think to complete these investigations. The many disagrams throughout the book were clear and colorful to aid in understanding. Overall, the book is lightweight in mass but full of useful content that is well organized.
Lorelei Beightol
Science Dept. Chair, Carmel Christian School