Science tutoring in Minnesota
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Minnesota, and we have no office there. If you want a person, this page says how we would look for one. If the question is which skill is missing, we can help with that part.
Minnesota tests science with MCA in grades 5 and 8. The main testing window is early March to early May, with science running to mid-May.
A lot of science trouble is math and reading
Density is a division problem. Speed is a rate. A lab question hands the student a data table and asks what it shows, which is a reading skill nobody taught as one. A student can like science, follow the idea when it's explained, and still miss the question.
The other part is vocabulary that sounds like everyday English and isn't: weight and mass, heat and temperature. State science tests built on the newer standards ask students to explain why something happens and point to evidence, so knowing the definition does not earn the point.
The problem on the page
A 40 g block has a volume of 50 cm³. Will it float in water?
Explaining floating and sinking with density
Middle school science
Calculating density
Middle school science · rests on the one below
Ratios and unit rates
Grade 6 math · usually where it started
Dividing decimals
Grade 5 math
What Minnesota tests, by grade
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | MCA | MCA | MCA | MCA | MCA | MCA | Not tested | MCA | Not tested | Not tested |
| Math | MCA | MCA | MCA | MCA | MCA | MCA | Not tested | Not tested | MCA | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | MCA | Not tested | Not tested | MCA | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
- MCA (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments): reading and writing, grades 3 through 8 and 10
- MCA: math, grades 3 through 8 and 11
- MCA: science, grades 5 and 8
Testing dates, graduation rules and the one deadline families miss are on a separate page. Minnesota guide
Kolu finds the missing skill and goes back to it
In Kolu a science subject is a map of skills with prerequisites, and the skill check finds which are missing. Explanations are typed in the student's own words and read for meaning, so a memorized definition without the idea behind it doesn't pass. If the trouble turns out to be ratios, start a math module next to the science one. The free plan covers one at a time.
Kolu does not call a skill mastered after one right answer. That takes correct work on different kinds of problems on different days, and a skill that fades gets brought back.
Kolu is not test prep for MCA. It has no bank of released questions. It teaches the skills the test draws on, and it will not do tonight's homework.
When to hire a person instead
Kolu has no lab bench. A student whose grade depends on lab reports needs their teacher's office hours more than they need us.
Ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. A nearby college is the next place to look, since students there took these courses recently and usually charge less than an agency.
Whoever you hire, ask one question before the first session: how will you find out what my child doesn't know? If the answer is that they will go over the homework, keep looking.
Free for one subject, $15 a month for 5
Kolu is free for one subject at a time, with one full skill check every 30 days and up to 4 sessions a day. Plus is $15 a month, or $120 for a year, and covers 5 subjects at once with unlimited skill checks. A learner under 13 needs a parent or guardian to set up the account.