Go Science!!!

As science is a favorite subject in our household, we were excited to receive these videos to review.  On the back of The Go Science videos it says they are geared towards children ages 6-14.  Since my children are 10, 12, and 14, these were to work perfectly with my family.  The LES website says the recommended ages are 5-11.  Ben Roy performs experiments on this video about 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd class levers; incline planes; pulleys; trebuchets; singing glasses; singing rods; sounds waves; singing pipes; making a cloud; weather balloons; tornado tubes; and air pressure.  There are a few experiments on this video that are interesting such as singing pipes and air pressure, but the rest of them are ones that have been performed over and over again.  Ben Roy speaks and gestures in such a way that I feel this video would be more appropriately geared towards children 4 through 8 years of age.  He speaks to the children as if they are very young and have a hard time understanding things.  Even so, he mentions terms that an older student should know or be learning about.  He does not explain things very well.  He performs the experiments and throws out harder scientific words, but he does not tell us the science behind the experiments.

Everyone in the video is wearing a yellow “Kid’s Time” t-shirt.  The kids don’t look very comfortable when they are standing up front with him to do an experiment.  He asks questions and feeds the children the answers if they give the wrong one.  The whole video isn’t very polished.  He makes errors as he speaks.  Those mistakes are caught, but he leaves a feeling of confusion.  In some of the later experiments, it seems as if he gave the children the answers ahead of time to the questions he was going to ask.

His whole animation is a bit unnerving.  I had a very hard time watching the entire length of the videos.  Biblical topics are discussed very quickly in some segments and not at all in others.  They are mostly the Bible stories that children hear growing up.

The back of the video says, “Even kids who claim an aversion to science will be engaged by the high-energy science demonstrations of Ben Roy!”  I would have to disagree.  There is nothing about these videos that makes my children want to learn more about science.  It also says, “Ben captivates, motivates, and inspires students to be excited about science, while providing effective instruction based on science phenomena.”  Again, I would have to disagree.  There is no effective instruction.  Nothing is explained well.

Older children and children who are interested in science already would NOT benefit from this product.  There is no challenge in it whatsoever, and it is tough to listen to him make the mistakes as he is speaking, including grammatical errors.

The Go Science videos sell for $8.97 individually and $47.95 for all six including Motion; Simple Machines, Sound, and Weather; Magnetism, Engineering, Electricity, and Design; Chemistry; Air and Flight; Water, Space, and the Solar System through Library and Educational Services.  Even though I wouldn't recommend these particular videos unless your children are very young, Library and Educational Services has a wide variety of other products to choose from at great prices.

Their website is http://www.libraryanded.com/goscience, and they can be reached at PO Box 288, Berrien Springs, MI 49103.  Their phone number is 1-269-695-1800.

DISCLAIMER:  I received these products free of charge in order to provide an honest review of them.