We recently had the opprotunity to review a great, online science class by Fascinating Education – Fascinating Biology. We received a 6 month membership to the Fascinating Biology course for our review of their product. I had never heard of Fascinating Education so i was excited to give it a try with our 5th grade daughter who is studying Biology this year for science.
In the Fascinating Biology online science course, students are engaged in the active, online learning environment, with colorful graphics, in 18 lessons. The lessons are primarily delivered in powerpoint-type lectures. The websites states that the lessons are for middle school and high school students. Dr. Marguiles, the developer of Fascinating Education, suggests that the Fascinating Biology class is for middle school to high school with some mathematics background. All the Fascinating Education courses assume the student does not have a background in the class and deemphasizes terminology for engaging lessons.
During the course, Dr. Margulies asks questions during the lecture to keep the student engaged. Though the student can do the lessons at their own pace, they can take notes or take online to encourage whatever learners you may have. However, this course is all online so for the hands-on learner, this might not be a good fit. However, the lessons are in bite size pieces, making it easy to do in spurts and not have long periods at the computer for the lecture.
Each lesson ends with a quiz or test, which can be completed online or printed out from a pdf that can be taken offline. The course covers the following topics:
What is Life?
Chemistry Review
Cell Membrane
Take in Nutrients
Take in Energy
Grow
Reproduce
Homeostasis
Adapt
Prokaryotes, Protists, Animals and Fungi
Plants
There a wonderful online tutorial available by Dr. Margulies available if you would like to see how the course is setup and works to see if its a good fit for you family.
Overall, my daughter enjoyed the course. She got a little bored with the lectures, but its simply because she wasn’t used to the lecture format and is a little on the young side. But she likes learning and the pictures. She didn’t mind the quizes, which we did online, and we did them together. I liked that there was an option for printing the quizes and tests and taking off line. I think this is a great option for the course.
Fascinating Education offers 3 main courses, as well as a quick beginning Chemistry class recommended for student who do not have a Chemistry background but want to begin in the biology class. We took this as well and my daughter liked this course the best of the two. You can read about their 3 main courses, Fascinating Chemistry, Fascinating Biology and Fascinating Physics below. This is the order in which Dr. Margulies suggests you take the courses if you are starting from the beginning, or do not have a predisposition for the order; however, they can be taken in any order as long the student is ready.
You can purchase a one-year subscription to Fascinating Biology through the Fascination Education website for $79.
And see what the rest of the TOS Crew had to say about Fascinating Education online science courses by clicking the button below.
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