Lots of goodies!
Physics for Entertainment by Yakov Perelman
Earth Science SparkChart!* (Picked up an SAT Math SparkChart, too, just because.)
Algebra 101 (terrific layout with no seductive details)
looks good, remains to be investigated further:
Theory of Almost Everything by Robert Oertner
* Speaking of earth science, I read an earth science article in the TIMES the other day, and I understood (practically) every word. If this keeps up I'll do great on my Regents Earth Science exam!
Nice to find out what earth sciences actually means - I had been wondering as the term doesn't appear anywhere in UK curricula - now I know that it is physical geography!
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda!
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure what "Earth Science" means - can't tell whether it's a real field or not.
For awhile I assumed that the course had been created by NY state in order to combine a lot of different fields (oceanography, geology, paleontology, etc.) into one course about the Earth.
Then I did some Googling and it's possible there is a movement amongst scientists to fashion something called "Earth Systems Science," which apparently would regard the Earth & its history & oceans & planets etc. as part of a system that must be studied as a system rather than as component parts or fields.
The upshot is that I really can't tell what's going on -- whether the course was "made up" by NY state or whether its existence reflects one position in a real debate amongst scientists.
Now that I've begun reading a book called "physical geography" (a term that was new to me) I can say that "physical geography" does cover the same material covered in C's textbook:
astronomy
geology
paleantology
climate
origins of Earth & solar system
environment
atmospheric science
I think that's it....
It's a huge amount of material to try to assimilate in one school year's time - but also a huge amount of fun once you get the hang of it.
Naturally there are lots of kids being tutored so I've got to figure the book out in order to do whatever reteaching has to be done around here.
The school has a new teacher, though, whose terrific. (She's just been there for a few weeks.)