AIMS is a non-profit organization, founded in 1981, that develops teaching tools for math and science. Their activity books cover a range of topics and include both classroom and hands-on activities. The company focuses on making learning engaging, making curriculum affordable with readily available materials and making activities easy to use while maintaining their conceptual integrity.
The Budding Botanist curriculum includes a 26-lesson 122-page activity book and a CD, or it is available as a downloadable e-book. The curriculum is designed for students in grades three through six and uses hands-on learning and discovery to demonstrate how essential plants are to human and animal life, while teaching students to appreciate the beauty of the plant life around them.
With the help of The Budding Botanist, students will learn about gymnosperms and anglosperms, photosynthesis, transpiration and germination. They will also sort seeds and examine the structure of a plant cell. Many of the activities in the curriculum incorporate items students can easily find in their backyards or in the schoolyard.
Along with specific botanical knowledge, The Budding Botanist teaches or reinforces other skills including observation, comparison and measurement. Students will also be asked to collect and record data, graph that data, communicate their results and make models.