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Home School Science Unit Studies

Components of MatchCard 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 - subject
Roots - resources used
Branches - objectives
Leaves - content counted
Fruit - final products

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

Follow this link to these unit study downloads

These twelve topics comprise the trunk of your unit study.

Each unit can be studied for six weeks, making six unit studies per year. Alternatively, three longer units can be studied for eight weeks each; and three shorter units can be studied for four weeks each.

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.

Here are some of the resources used in home school science unit studies:

Books (including library books)
Journal articles
Documentaries
DVDs and Videos
Field Trips
Science Project Books
Internet sites
Special speakers
Co-op classes

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 students will study one to two objectives per week during their home school science unit studies.

For each objective, there is a corresponding MatchCard.

Each Matchcard has the following:

A table or diagram with information on the content
Information pieces are provided for the student to match to the correct area
Instructor page with correct answers
Ideas for projects and hands-on demonstrations

Leaves

Leaves are the "countable content" your students complete. With MatchCard Science, the leaves include the pages read and the MatchCards reviewed.

In addition to learning one or two new objectives every week, your students will review previously learned MatchCards. It is a fun, game-like activity that students enjoy.

Reviewing the MatchCards is more than just fun. We encounter scientific phenomenon every day of our lives. For many students the study of science consists of reading a chapter of a textbook with new vocabulary words, then moving on to the next chapter. With the MatchCard Science review, the student continues to encounter and reinforce the concepts they have learned. They can build upon that knowledge base on a regular basis.

The instructor's manual describes how to keep a notebook of the MatchCards for student review. The student reviews previously completed MatchCards 2 to 3 times a week.

Leaves are used as symbols on the tree to reflect the students work. Every time a student reviews a MatchCard for their home school science unit study, another leaf is added to the tree.

Fruit

The fruit is like the cherry to top your unit study. It is a project (or projects) completed by the student relevant to each unit of your home school science unit studies.

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 home school science unit studies taking shape as they do them.

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.

Return from Home School Science Unit Studies Componenets to the Science Main Page.

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