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Integrating Educational
Software
Science Grades 4-8 |
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Integrating Educational
Software
Science Grades 4-8 |
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Click on a featured software title, or scroll down through all the reviews. |
| Title: Science
Court: Electric Current |
| Publisher: Tom Snyder |
| Grades: 4-6 |
| Platform: Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
| NH Frameworks: Science Std. 1, 5 |
| Description:
Students learn about electric current, open and closed circuits,
atoms, electrons, conductivity and insulators through experimentation
and an electrifying courtroom drama: did Mary attempt to steal Mr.
Richman's trophy or is there something wrong with his alarm system?
Students work together in teams to demonstrate the components of an electric circuit, the difference between open and closed circuits, how electrons travel to make an electric current, and that some materials are better conductors of electricity than others. |
| Integration: |
| Works best with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3 class periods |
| Guide includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |
|
Publisher:
Tom Snyder |
|
Grades:
4-6 |
|
Platform:
Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
|
NH
Frameworks:
Science Std. 1, 3 |
|
Description: Students learn about fossils, fossilization
and petrifaction through hands-on activities and an exciting courtroom
drama: Jack Jenkins is accused of planting a fake dinosaur fossil at a
controversial construction site. Students
work in cooperative teams to demonstrate the process of petrifaction,
how cast and mold fossils are formed and how trace fossils are formed.
Terms introduced include fossil, fossilization, sediment,
sedimentary rock, petrifaction, paleontology and paleontologist. |
| Integration: |
| Works
best with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires
2-3 class periods |
| Guide
includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along
with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |
| Title: Science Court: Gravity |
| Publisher: Tom Snyder |
| Grades: 4-6 |
| Platform: Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
| NH Frameworks: Science Std. 1, 2, 5 |
| Description:
Students learn about gravity, mass and weight through hands-on
activities and a captivating courtroom drama: Ms. Swindell accuses Sam
Bookman of sabotaging her antigravity formula. But is it scientifically
reasonable to believe that such a potion existed in the first place?
Students work in cooperative teams to explain why some objects have more gravity than others, why objects weigh more on Earth than on the Moon, and why the weight of objects changes with gravity but mass remains the same. |
| Integration: |
| Works best with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3 class periods |
| Guide includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |
| Title: Science Court:
Inertia |
| Publisher: Tom Snyder |
| Grades: 4-6 |
| Platform: Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
| NH Frameworks: Science Std. 1, 5 |
| Description:
Students learn about motion, mass, inertia and friction through
observation and experimentation and a zany courtroom drama: a famous
motion picture star accuses an old friend of selling him a BADD bike
accessory that whacks him in the head. Is the friend intentionally
trying to make him look bad?
Students work together in cooperative groups to demonstrate Newton’s first law of motion, explain why some objects have more inertia than others, and provide examples of forces that get objects moving and that slow them down. |
| Integration: |
| Works best with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3 class periods |
| Guide includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects |
|
Publisher:
Tom Snyder |
|
Grades:
4-6 |
|
Platform:
Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
|
NH
Frameworks:
Science Std. 1, 3 |
| Description: Students learn about classification,
characteristics of living things and how a process can turn a living
thing into a nonliving thing through experimentation and a zany
courtroom drama: Clara Swindell is suing because a poet won't write
about her dead chicken bone, dead brine shrimp eggs or her dead leather
wallet. The poet claims
they're not dead. Who's
right? Students
work together in cooperative groups to observe differences in the
characteristics of things, classify objects according to their
characteristics, and observe how the right conditions can prompt an
object to exhibit the characteristics of living things.
Terms introduced include organism, cell, classification, living,
nonliving and dead. |
| Integration: |
| Works best
with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3
class periods |
|
Guide
includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along
with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |
| Title: Science Court: Particles in Motion |
| Publisher: Tom Snyder |
| Grades: 4-6 |
| Platform: Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
| NH Frameworks: Science Std. 1, 5 |
| Description:
Students learn about particles, atoms, molecules and elements
through hands-on activities and participation in a courtroom drama: a
plaque pops out of its frame and falls right onto Cramwood. Did the
artist not secure it well enough for the something else cause it to fall
out of its frame?
Students work together in teams to discover that every object is made up of particles, what conditions might cause particles in objects to move, that different kinds of atoms combine to make different things and what happens to different materials when heated. |
| Integration: |
| Works best with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3 class periods |
| Guide includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |
|
Publisher:
Tom Snyder |
|
Grades:
4-6 |
|
Platform:
Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
|
NH
Frameworks:
Science Std. 1, 4 |
| Description: Students learn about the cause of seasons,
the orbit and tilt of Earth, hemispheres and the Equator in this zany
courtroom drama: Heather Hancock vacations in Australia in June and
learns that winter is coming. Upon
further investigation, she finds out that Earth is actually moving away
from the Sun. Convinced that there won't be any summer this year, she sues
to get her money back for upcoming swimming lessons. Really! Hands-on activities help students illustrate relative distance, demonstrate the effect of tilt on how sunlight strikes the Earth's surface and to model the Earth-Sun relationship. Terms introduced include orbit, ellipse, climate, weather, axis and hemisphere. |
| Integration: |
| Works best
with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3
class periods |
|
Guide
includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along
with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |
|
Publisher:
Tom Snyder |
|
Grades:
4-6 |
|
Platform:
Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
|
NH
Frameworks:
Science Std. 1, 3, 4 |
| Description: Students learn about soil fertility,
composition of soil and the role of worms in this entertaining courtroom
drama: Gadgetco Inc. accuses Eddy Watt of stealing the plans for their
soil fixing machine because Eddy says he has a machine that fixes soil
that costs almost nothing. But
how can that be? Through
experimentation, students separate into layers the different materials
that make up soil, test how well water percolates through soil, observe
how worms mix layers of soil and test how well plants grow in different
types of soil. The
following terms are introduced: organic, inorganic, humus, sand, silt,
clay and casting. |
| Integration: |
| Works best
with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3
class periods |
| Guide
includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along
with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |
| Title: Science Court:
Sound |
| Publisher: Tom Snyder |
| Grades: 4-6 |
| Platform: Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
| NH Frameworks: Science Std. 1, 5 |
| Description:
Students learn about vibrations, sound waves and echoes through
hands-on activities and an entertaining courtroom drama: During the
town's anniversary celebration, Sasha Meany accuses Shep of ruining the
festivities because the cannon blast is late. But did Shep fire the
cannon too late?
Students work in cooperative groups to explain how vibrating objects create sound, how sound waves travel through air and other materials, and why sound takes time to travel. |
| Integration |
| Works best with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3 class periods |
| Guide includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |
| Publisher: Tom Snyder |
| Grades: 4-6 |
| Platform: Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
| NH Frameworks: Science Std. 1, Math Std. 1, 2, 5 |
| Description:
Students learn about data, variables, random sampling and biased
studies through graphing and sampling activities and a lively courtroom
drama: Shep Sherman has the data to prove that aliens are about to
invade town. Others, however, think the data is bogus.
Students work in cooperative teams to demonstrate how graphs help make data analysis easier, explain what makes a good estimate, explain why random sampling is used and how bias can influence data gathering. |
| Integration: |
| Works best with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3 class periods |
| Guide includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |
|
Publisher:
Tom Snyder |
|
Grades:
4-6 |
|
Platform:
Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
|
NH
Frameworks:
Science Std. 1, 3, 5 |
| Description: Students learn about the four stages of the
water cycle, three states of water and about concentration and
evaporation in this humorous courtroom drama: Mr. I. M. Richman slips
and falls in a puddle and sues because of leaky pipes.
But are the pipes really leaking or is it some other act of
nature? Students
work in cooperative teams to demonstrate condensation and the presence
of water vapor in the air and set up experiments to compare rates of
evaporation and to model the water cycle. |
| Integration: |
| Works best
with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3
class periods |
| Guide
includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along
with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |
| Title: Science Court:
Work & Simple Machines |
| Publisher: Tom Snyder |
| Grades: 4-6 |
| Platform: Win/Mac hybrid CD-ROM |
| NH Frameworks: Science Std. 1, 2, 5 |
| Description:
Students learn about work, force, mechanical advantage and simple
machines through calculations and hands-on activities and a tense
courtroom drama: Mr. Sludge accuses Mary of being the laziest worker
because she never breaks a sweat. But is she lazy or just smart?
Students participate in cooperative groups to identify various simple machines, understand the relationship of force and distance to work and apply the equation: force x distance = work. |
| Integration: |
| Works best with single classroom computer, teams of 4 students each |
| Requires 2-3 class periods |
| Guide includes all student handouts and activities to reach a verdict, along with additional experiments, assessments and extension projects. |