Snap Circuits Student & Teacher Guides

Description

Unless a child has a burning interest in electricity, I'm guessing that they're not going to pore over the Snap Circuits experiment guides and really learn why a project works before they assemble it. When the excitement wears off, however, they may be interested to learn more about electricity. Or maybe you may just want to incorporate that Snap Circuits set in with what you're studying in physics. To make it easier to do both of those things, there are two Student Guides and a comprehensive Teacher Guide available for the core Snap Circuits sets. The student guides are full-color and present a variety of electricity topics based on the projects and parts included in that particular kit. For example, the Student Guide for the 100-Experiment Snap Circuits set includes four chapters: Basic Components & Circuits, Motors & Electricity, Resistance, and Electronic Sound and Integrated Circuits. Each chapter is made up of color-coded boxes of text. Core information is blue, experiments (which reference the experiments in the Snap Circuit set's activity guide) are green, yellow is for introducing electronics parts, orange is for advanced material, and brown is for additional/background material. Each chapter ends with "quick quiz" assignments, practice problems, and a bulleted summary of important concepts. The end of the guide holds definitions for electrical terms and components. Although originally there was one student guide per kit, the manufacturer has combined the student guides for the 300-Experiment kit and up, so now there is a 100 Experiment Guide and a 300/500/750 Experiment Guide. All in all, the guides do a great job of "filling in the gaps" informationally, while using the Snap Circuits set as a basis. There is only one Teacher Guide, which covers all of the Snap Circuits sets. The Teacher Guide holds some parent/teacher information, a table of contents for each of the Student Guides, reproducible quizzes for each Student Guide, and answers for the quizzes. What a great and easy-to-use resource to delve a little bit deeper into those electricity concepts! - Jess

Teaching Method
Traditional
Teacher-centered curriculum commonly used in classrooms that may include a text, teacher manual, tests, etc.
Charlotte Mason
A methodology based on the work of a 19th century educator who maintained that children learn best from literature (Living Books), not textbooks.
Classical
A methodology based on the Latin Trivium (three stages of learning), including the grammar stage (memorization and facts), logic stage (critical thinking), and rhetoric stage (developing/defending ideas).
Unit Study
A thematic or topical approach centered around one topic that integrates multiple subject areas.
Montessori (Discovery)
A methodology based on the work of a 20th century educator that emphasizes student and sensory-driven discovery learning and real-life applications.
Religious Content
Christian/Religious
Faith-based or including instructional religious content.
Neutral
Avoids religious or theoretical topics or presents multiple viewpoints without preference.
Secular
Contains content contrary to common Christian beliefs (i.e. evolution).
Learning Modality
Auditory
Learns through listening, talking out loud or reading out loud.
Visual
Learns through seeing, prefers written instructions and visual materials.
Kinesthetic/Tactile (Hands-On)
Learns through moving, doing and touching.
Multi-Sensory
Curriculum that employ a variety of activities/components.
Presentation
Sequential
Curriculum progresses through well-defined learning objectives. Emphasizes mastery before moving to the next topic.
Spiral
Topics and concepts are repeated from level to level, adding more depth at each pass and connecting with review.
Conceptual/Topical
Focus is on the “why,” often with a unifying concept as well as specific skills; coverage may be broader.
Teacher Involvement
Low Teacher Involvement
Student-led materials; parent acts as a facilitator.
Medium Teacher Involvement
A mix of teacher-led time and independent student work.
High Teacher Involvement
Teacher-led lessons; may utilize discussions, hands-on activities and working together.
Additional Materials Required
No other materials needed
Everything you need is included.
Other Materials Required
There are additional required resources that are a separate purchase.
Other Materials Optional
There are additional resources mentioned or recommended but are not absolutely necessary.
Consumable
Consumable
Designed to be written in; not reusable.
Non-Consumable
Not designed to be written in; reusable.