For these classes, you have the video component, downloads such as a study guide and project packs (either small easy ones or bigger more complex) and an online quizlet. For the projects the instructions are to research and create your project, create a video and then upload it to youtube, a blog or some other social media platform. We skipped this because my kids aren't allowed on social media.
The video lesson of the class is pre-recorded during live online classes, so you have the interaction (or lack thereof) with students as well as technical glitches to contend with along with the instructors delay time conversations with students. Sometimes there are several people talking at once and it's hard to figure out whats going on, and there tends to be background noise of NatureGlo's dogs. We found it very distracting and hard to follow.
My hope with reviewing Math Connections With the Real World was that it would help answer the question "when will I ever use this math in the real world". My 14 year old student who is currently doing Algebra II said she had no clue what the first two lessons were really about. While she did understand the premise behind Fibonacci numbers, she didn't really see why she'd ever be going around counting petals on flowers and pine cones. She said the whole thing just seemed very "hippie" to her.
One aspect of the videos and lessons she really liked though was the look at history that went along with the lessons. We all enjoyed the videos links about Ancient Egypt, King Tut, Cleopatra and the art and music of the time. Lesson 4 was our favorite as it was almost totally based on ancient history, and I don't remember anything tying in the Fibonacci numbers. The videos in this and several other portions of the class were links to outside sites and were really well done and engaging. However, I'm never happy about blindly clicking on outside links. The "find your favorite item and circle it" portion of all the lessons was just for grins and giggles as you do nothing other than circle and erase before moving on. My history lover really enjoyed this particular lesson because of the historical content.
When we hit Lesson 5 we got caught in a "You have to complete Lesson 4 to proceed" loop. Everything on Lesson 4 was completed and I went back over each one. Yet I couldn't get the site to let us move on. I sent a message via the site itself to see what was going on and within a few hours the problem was resolved and they notified me it had been changed. Great turn around on fixing technical issues.
Overall, this was not a product review that we enjoyed. We really had a hard time navigating the website at first and had issues with several of the links and videos.
To read other Review Crew opinions of this and other products from NatureGlo's eScience, click here.
We had a hard time with lesson one as well. :)
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