Calling all teachers

[MrsH2010]

I'm writing a paper evaluating the FOSS curriculum and I need teacher feedback. Do any of you use FOSS for your science curriculum?

What do you like about it?
What do you dislike about it?
Are the kits user friendly?
Do you like the activities? Are there many hands on activities?
Do your students seem to like the activities?
Any other thoughts?

TIA!

[Deleted]

I used FOSS at the school where I student taught.....and so far, no science curriculum I have used since then has come anywhere close to living up to the standards of FOSS.

I loved how planned out and hand-ons, interactive the lessons were.
The only dislike I can think of is that it really requires that you teach science several days a week, and at some schools that's just not possible.
Kits are extremely user friendly. Probably the most user friendly curriculum I have seen. I mean, they even give you a video to watch about how to do it...
The whole curriculum is hands on! I don't think there is a single lesson in the curriculum that isn't hands on. Yes, the activities were very involved and it requires a lot of teacher prep/set-up before the lesson, but that means that your students are actually DOING science and not just reading or listening to science.
Students love it!

I miss using the FOSS curriculum so much! This is how I dream of teaching science. At the school I am at now and the school I taught at last year, we use a textbook and a work book. I don't know how it's possible to teach science to five year olds in this manner....but some schools seem to think so. FOSS really lends itself to teaching students what science is really about....and reading in a book, it's not. They really get to investigate and make decisions/predictions, create their own experiment, draw their own conclusions, etc.

Ohhhh sad. lol.

ETA: It also creates very authentic, real-world learning experiences for students. For example, when I used it in grade 2, we were studying soil...The kit came with regular soil. One lesson was for us to go outside and get our own soil from the ground, then come back to class and notice the differences between soil from the ground, and bagged soil from the kit. While my kids were sifting through and looking about in their soil, they found a WORM!!!! Of course, this made chaos in a second grade classroom, but it was still a very authentic learning experience for them, and really taught them a huge difference between the two soils.

[MrsH2010]

Thank you kinmir for all of your feedback!

It sucks that so many schools/districts do not take into consideration how important it is for students to explore and discover using hands on activities.