Review of Thames and Kosmos Alternative Energy and Environmental Science

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My 11 year old son is very into putting things together so I got this power house for him so he could build and learn at the same time. He was very careful with the pieces (they're made of styrofoam). I would say a younger kid may have trouble with the durability but it's been perfect for him. He has learned a lot.

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My 9 year old daughter used this for a science fair project to demonstrate residential solar energy. The solar panels are surprisingly strong. The manual and materials are easy to use and understand. We supplemented this with a number of resources on the internet to really understand how a solar panel generates electricity.

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I got this for my eleven year old. We do the projects together, but I think to get the most out of it, it is for 13 and up.

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Do not expect to open the box and build the house you see on the cover. The good news is they will show you how to put the walls and roof together right away. The house is made of styrofoam. It fits together OK but you could not call it sturdy. Everything else ends up being part of a series of experiments, but you never end up with the house you see on the box because you are always cannibalizing part of what you have built for the next experiment.

The box contains about $20 worth of parts (being generous here). The manual is very spotty about how to construct things (some instructions are sufficient but some are quite vague). In many cases you have to hunt to find any sort of details on how to put pieces together. And many of the experiments require materials not in the box. For example, the manual details how to build a working solar oven but as far as I can tell you have to build it completely from materials you scrounge around the house (cardboard, aluminum foil, small pieces of wood, etc.). I think it is a great idea but why did I buy an $80 kit to conduct a scavenger hunt for all the materials.

I think I understand what the authors had in mind and in many ways it is a grand idea. I think the idea was to give kids the more specialized parts and some guidance but don't spell out every little thing so they have to do some thinking for themselves. And for some kids this appears to work. But in my experience you have to get kids a little bit hooked with something more specific before they will take off. I don't think this succeeds in the way the authors intended. And I understand that the authors expected adults to help kids on some of this but I don't think that is enough to make this work.

In many ways this would have been better as a book parts of the manual are excellent in the way they cover the topic it just does not work as a kit.

I would be very interested hearing from kids about their experience.

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My boy won the first place of his school Science Fair this year. We did a very nice Solar Powered Car and with the house and other few things it was the best project overall. But is not durable, so you must handle it with care.