Reviewed by Richard Smith
This is a worthy addition to the teacher's tool chest for teaching Newton's Laws of motion. Material from Stop Faking It! Force and Motion, chapters 1 through 5, is expanded with discussions and classroom-ready activities. If you found that Stop Faking It! Force and Motion helped you understand the content better, then you'll find that this will help you get your students to understand as well.
Companion Classroom Activities are directed to students in grades 5 to 9. The activities are oriented toward small-group instruction, but not exclusively. Many activities are similar to those in Stop Faking It, but the required materials lists, classroom handouts, and teacher guides are provided for convenient use. The activities are correlated with National Science Education Standards as well.
The activities in Companion Classroom Activities are usually organized according to a four-step learning cycle—explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Not all chapters have all four steps, however. (Evaluation is not used in chapters 2, 4, 8, and 9; and there is no elaboration step in chapters 6 and 9.) The activities are well explained, including probable mistakes, corrections, and extensions. There are also more activities than in original book, helping develop an experiential depth of understanding. All are followed up with discussion to develop academic understanding and vocabulary.
The student hand-out masters are well illustrated with simple black-and-white ink drawings. The elaboration questions are relevant and fun; they seem designed to spark thought and discussion. Evaluation questions were also relevant but not repetitive. Extension ideas are provided for more advanced students. Only one activity uses a computer simulation, which can be run as a demonstration if computer access is limited. The only drawbacks to Companion Classroom Activities are that several activities use Hot Wheels track without alternatives always being suggested, and some handouts are lengthy (six sets of handouts were four or more pages long).
Review posted on 12/2/2011