Components of MatchCard Home School Science Unit Studies

MatchCard Home School Science Unit Studies are designed to encourage students in 3rd to 8th grade to actively explore the field of science. The components of the unit studies are described below.

What Are the Components of Each Unit

MatchCard Science uses the Learning Tree Model which is composed of the following: trunks, roots, branches, leaves and fruit. This provides a home school science unit study which is interactive and fosters self-learning.

The Trunk
The trunk is the topic of the unit study. In MatchCard science there are 12 different unit studies.

• Light and Energy
  
• Weather
  
• Force and Motion
  
• Geology
  
• Oceanography
  
• Human Anatomy
  
• Chemistry
  
• Astronomy
  
• Botany
  
• Zoology
  
• Nutrition, Health, Safety
  
• Technology

Roots
The roots of your home school science unit study are the resources you use to dig deeper for more information. With MatchCard Science, a minimum of three different resources is recommended.

Suggested resources are listed for each unit study. However, the sky is the limit and many other great resources may be available in your area.

Branches
In the Learning Tree Model, the branches are the sub-topics explored with each unit study. With MatchCard Science, we have broken each unit into the objectives that should be mastered prior to high school. Your student will study one to two objectives per week.

For each objective, there is a corresponding MatchCard. The Matchcard has a table or diagram with information. Information pieces are provided for the student to match to the correct area.

Leaves
With literature based unit studies, the leaves are the number of pages read for each unit. With MatchCard science, the leaves include the pages read and the MatchCards reviewed.

The instructor's manual describes how to keep a notebook of the MatchCards. The student reviews previously completed MatchCards 2 to 3 times a week. Another leaf is earned each time they correctly review the MatchCard.

Fruit
The fruit is like the cherry to top your unit study. It is a project (or projects) completed by the student relevant to that unit.

A variety of large projects are suggested for each unit study. In addition, a different hands-on project is recommended for each MatchCard. Students will complete a minimum of one project per unit.

Putting It Together
Some students benefit from having a drawing of a tree on which the parts of the unit study are actually added. They can visually see their unit study taking shape. The books on their bibliography are underground as the roots. They can cut out leaves from construction paper to glue to each branch. Fruit can also be glued to the top of their tree. (You can also buy hole punches shaped like leaves and apples for a time saver.)

Other students, particularly older students who have used the tree diagram several times, may prefer simply to list the components out. However, using the tree does help them to visualize how they draw information out of resources and produce their own learning outcomes.

Whether or not an actual drawing of a tree is constructed, the student creates a notebook for each of the home school science unit studies completed. Students take great pride in these productions which can include their experiments, photos, copies of MatchCards which they colored and labeled, paragraphs they have written, or any other documentation of their work.

Here are more ideas on making a science notebook for your unit study.

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