Explorations in Science
*A note on Covid-19: We have tried our best to adapt our exploration in science activities based on current resources available in this time. We recognize that popular "common household goods" often found in home science experiments such as soap and toilet paper are currently being rationed in many homes. Activities that do include soap only include a couple drops, but please use your discretion at this time and skip any activities that you do not feel feasible in this time whether it be because of resources, social distancing, and "stay at home" regulations. If you would like more suggestions of activities or have ideas you would like to share with us, feel free to drop us a line in the contact box found in the "about" or "home" page.
Explorations in Science are activities that go along with each lessons. We anticipate that each will take about a day, and we encourage you to take a day to complete them on top of each day that you spent on each sublesson in the unit. We have tried our best to make these activities fun and hands-on, within the constraints of topics that match up well with the lessons, promote your further learning and curiosity, and are easily completed with common household supplies (or, in a few cases, slightly less common household supplies that can be acquired relatively cheaply and easily). In some cases, the topics don’t easily lend themselves to activities that can be safely done at home, in which case we’ve included some online modules/labs that will be beneficial and hopefully enjoyable for you.
You get out of these activities what you put into them, so we hope that you make the most of the opportunity to explore science! With each activity, you’ll note that we give you the opportunity to share how you’re learning with us on Instagram @kast_edu, using a hashtag specific to the activity. Young people should always be sure to get the permission of their relevant responsible adult (like a parent or guardian) before sharing anything on social media.
You get out of these activities what you put into them, so we hope that you make the most of the opportunity to explore science! With each activity, you’ll note that we give you the opportunity to share how you’re learning with us on Instagram @kast_edu, using a hashtag specific to the activity. Young people should always be sure to get the permission of their relevant responsible adult (like a parent or guardian) before sharing anything on social media.
Unit Reviews
These review guides will give you a bulleted list of the most important ideas and details that you should have learned from the unit. We have included the details that we believe will be most beneficial to you as you continue in your learning, so we encourage you to take a few days to a week to review these topics at the end of each unit, while you’re working on your unit project. How you budget your time specifically between these two tasks is up to you. The information contained in the review guide is also the information that your unit exam will test you on.
Unit Tests
Each unit has a test that goes along with it. These are not timed, but we anticipate that they will take you 1-2 hours to complete, depending on your testing speed. We strongly encourage you to take these exams closed-book using only the materials listed in the description of each exam (usually a Periodic Table and a calculator), as this will be the most accurate reflection of what you’ve learned and where you can still grow as a learner. Tests will be auto-graded for your convenience so that you can gauge where your level of understanding was for that unit, but it’s up to you and your family how you choose to keep track of and use these scores.
Unit Projects
We will explain further exactly how these unit projects should be structured in the description for each and guide you through completing them. These are basically mini–Science Fair projects, where you’ll have the chance to really explore an idea that interests you and design an experiment to test a question that you have, just like scientists do in their jobs. We encourage you to think about the scope of the project in terms of what resources you already have available at home, and think about something that you can ideally complete in a few days to a week. You are also welcome to submit these projects in local or online science fairs, if you are interested.
If you complete 1 sublesson a day, plus another day for each EIS, plus 1 day to plan your project, plus 1 day to take your exam, that leaves you with about 4-5 days to study for your exam while completing the experiments for your project, to still be able to finish this class in 5 days a week over a standard school year. We encourage you to develop your time management skills by developing and sticking to your own schedule, making adjustments as needed as you go through the course. This video will provide you with some helpful tips on time management:
If you complete 1 sublesson a day, plus another day for each EIS, plus 1 day to plan your project, plus 1 day to take your exam, that leaves you with about 4-5 days to study for your exam while completing the experiments for your project, to still be able to finish this class in 5 days a week over a standard school year. We encourage you to develop your time management skills by developing and sticking to your own schedule, making adjustments as needed as you go through the course. This video will provide you with some helpful tips on time management: