The Earth - It’s Structure & Its Changes
Written by Tom DeRosa and Carolyn Reeves
Published at MasterBooks
About the books
The Earth: Its Structure & Its Changes is a study of the fascinating world of geology. With explanations of how our Earth was shaped, this elementary science curriculum gives evidence to the Genesis Flood, accompanying earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other powerful processes. Students will explore 20 “investigations” through experiments and a very specific learning progression.
The Investigate the Possibilities learning progression:
Engage - Students make a note of what they know or have experienced about the topic.
Investigate - Students will follow the instructions and make observations of what happens.
Explain - Students will begin to understand the science behind what they observed in the investigation.
Apply - Here, the understanding of the investigation is related to other situations and ideas.
Expand -Each investigation also includes a few “Dig Deeper” projects to further understanding.
Assess - Students explain what they have learned.
Students will examine natural occurrences such as mountains, volcanoes, rocks, minerals, crystals, water, and dirt (just to name a few). By using household items such as hard boiled eggs, oranges, measuring cups, maps, clay and markers, these scientific truths will come to life.
This title contains a full circle view of geology, creation, and history. All three of these topics are combined to create the big picture for your student and develop a stronger root in their faith. Also available is the combined teacher’s guide and student journal.
While geology is at the heart of this newest book in the Investigate the Possibilities series, other titles within this series include: Forces & Motion, Matter, and Energy. These are perfect for elementary education, grades 3rd-6th.
Authors Tom DeRosa and Carolyn Reeves are committed biblical creationists with a combined 60 years teaching science. Both are excellent at helping students experience science concepts in the world around them.
Teacher’s Guide and Student Journal
Two books in one! All at one low price!
The newly combined Teacher’s Guide and Student Journal for The Earth: Its Structure & Its Changes includes insights and suggestions to help you in more effectively working with your student. Worksheets and journal pages for the student are included as well on perforated pages that can be easily taken out and copied for your convenience. Clear objectives throughout the Teacher’s portion help guide the educational experience, and the student pages provide all that’s needed to record ideas, questions, observations, and answers from the text. These two facets of the book help ensure than not only is your job as a teacher made easier, but your students will retain more of what they learned, through the work of putting their thoughts and findings down on paper!
The curriculum is a study of the fascinating world of geology. With explanations of how our Earth was shaped, giving evidence to the Genesis Flood, accompanying earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other powerful processes. Students will explore 20 “investigations” through experiments and a very specific learning progression, unique to the Investigate the Possibilities series of books:
Engage - Students make a note of what they know or have experienced about the topic.
Investigate - Students will follow the instructions and make observations of what happens.
Explain - Students will begin to understand the science behind what they observed in the investigation.
Apply - Here, the understanding of the investigation is related to other situations and ideas.
Expand -Each investigation also includes a few “Dig Deeper” projects to further understanding.
Assess - Students explain what they have learned.
Students will examine natural occurrences such as mountains, volcanoes, rocks, minerals, crystals, water, and dirt (just to name a few). By using household items such as hard boiled eggs, oranges, measuring cups, maps, clay and markers, these scientific truths will come to life.
My Thoughts
This is the fourth book is the Investigate the Possibilities series from MasterBooks. The three previous books have been reviewed in the past by yours truly. Please visit Energy – Its Forms, Changes & Functions, Matter – Its properties & Its Changes and Forces & Motion to read their reviews.
And again the authors have done a wonderful job in presenting the world of geology with terminology geared for grades 3 to 6. To discover the geology of our planets with my kids was something that I was interested in but I didn’t know where to start. Most books on the subject were geared for older students like high school or college. But now I have the perfect tool to explore, learn and discover more about the Earth.
This book is very colourful and packed with interesting pictures, graphs, and fun activities to put in practice what you have just read. Throughout the book you will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, crystals, minerals, rocks, caves, sinkholes, geysers, glaciers and more. Each chapter is set up as though the kid will do an investigation. After all science is about experiments and discovering so it makes sense to see it has though we are investigators. Before we get to the lesson in itself, you will have to think about a situation, observe, experience and write your results. When you are done with this part, you get an explanation that is concise and clear for everyone (even mom!). You can also make connections with the lessons with what we already know, dig deeper on the subject and test your knowledge after the chapter. The text book is filled with interesting experiments and fun learning.
The Teacher’s Guide and Student Journal is now bind in the same book. I have mixed feelings about this. I personally liked the idea of having separate books before. The Teacher’s Guide contains a small image of each page of the text book with extra information that is useful for the teacher (ie the parent in case of homeschool). Also included, you will have the answers to the questions asked in the What Did You Learn? section. Two options could be done for this section, you can ask the child to write down his/hers answers in a notebook or you can proceed in a questions and answers period. Having more guidance and information in the Teacher’s Guide is always useful when the subject in hand is not something you know well.
On the other hand, the Student Journal is an attractive way to take notes and explain your experiments while you do them. You have a section for the procedure and observations, and area dedicated to the Dig Deeper and a place to answer the questions in the What Did You Learn?. You couldn’t ask for a better way to keep track of what you have done and your answers. It is my understanding that you can take out the journaling pages and make copies. To make this convenient, these pages are perforated in advance for you. I like this idea very much to be honest since I have four kids in my own house. Having the ability of making copies without having to buy the same book four times is a major blessing.
In the end, learning about the structure of the Earth will be fun for everyone. This specific book can be adapted for younger children even though it is suggested for grades 3-6. It can even be used for children in grades 7 & 8 is needed. It is a versatile science book for the whole family!
The Earth – Its Structures and Its Changes books, both the text book and the Teacher’s Guide & Student Journal, are available at your favourite bookstore, even at amazon.ca.
Disclaimer: Thanks to MasterBooks for sending me the books for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.
I really loved reading this post. I love books for children that invite them to study, reflect upon what they have read and bring hand on to experimenting. Further research is also important and children love learning in attractive ways.
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