Category: Science Books (Page 73 of 87)

Resources For Finding New Science Books

Tomorrow Growing with Science is hosting STEM Friday, the meme that highlights recently released Science, Technology, Engineering and Math books for children (as well as older favorites). The STEM Friday book meme has been ongoing for a year, but now you can find it in one place each week – at the new STEM Friday blog.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to do a weekend of posts celebrating science books for children. Today I’ll go over some resources where you can find out about new STEM books, particularly science books. Stay tuned for more.

Places to find lists of fantastic STEM Books:

The first list can be found at the The Miss Rumphius Effect blog. Patricia Stohr-Hunt has well-organized thematic lists of books, particularly math and science. She also recently did a wonderful list of Women in Science – Trailblazers of the 20th Century, which includes synopses of children’s books about:

  • Rachel Carson
  • Mary Leakey
  • Jane Goodall
  • Sylvia Earle
  • Wangari Maathai

with a companion post, Women in Science – Trailblazers Before the 20th Century

that features children’s books about:

  • Hypatia
  • Maria Mitchell
  • Marie Curie

Archimedes Notebook has a list of book reviews of carefully selected children’s science books.

Shirley at Simply Science concentrates on science books for children, and she always adds a few recommended activities as well.

Anastasia has put together a list of science poetry books, plus STEM haiku (more about that tomorrow).

Jeff at NC Teacher Stuff is a regular contributor to STEM Friday and he has some great links to math and science websites.

National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has extensive yearly lists of outstanding science trade books

AAAS/Subaru SB&F (Science Books and Films) Prize for Excellence in Science Books – See a list of the 2012 science winners Also, the SB&F site offers book lists that change monthly, for example suggestions for a Science Book Club. They also have best of lists from 1999-2005

Of course, the STEM Friday blog is a place to find reviews of new science/STEM books, updated each Friday. Be sure to check the comments for links to reviews from our community members.

Are you looking for science books? New STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) book resources for are springing up all over. It is a great time to grow a reading list for science books!

I would love to hear about any resources I might have missed.

A Leaf Can Be…

Today we have a lovely new picture book A Leaf Can Be . . . (Millbrook Picture Books) with poetic text by Laura Purdie Salas and breathtaking illustrations by Violeta Dabija. This book has been generating a lot of excitement in the children’s literature world (See my review at Wrapped in Foil).

In the book Salas gently describes leaf “jobs,” which are all the roles that leaves may play.  “A leaf can be a…Shade spiller…Mouth filler…Tree topper…Rain stopper….” She covers not only the basics, such as that leaves are where plants make food, but also more whimsical and imaginative uses, such as they serve as a place to conceal moths or snakes. She includes a section “More About Leaves” in the backmatter that feels and looks like she is sharing her handwritten research notes.

The mixed-media illustrations by Violeta Dabija are in a class by themselves. They “leave” this veteran book reviewer speechless (The video trailer below does not do justice to their beauty).

The bottom line is that A Leaf Can Be . . . is sure to be a winner with budding scientists.

Activities to investigate leaves, inspired by A Leaf Can Be . . .:

Make a leaf collection to study leaf form and function.

There are many, many ways to make a leaf collection.

My new favorite way to preserve leaves is to scan them.

Simply lay fresh or dry leaves on the bed of a scanner. Rather than using the machine cover, which might crush the leaves, gently cover with cloth or a large piece of construction paper to serve as a backdrop. Scan and save electronically. Now you can add your scans to an electronic journal or print them out for a paper one. No more lost or crushed specimens.

Be sure to include information about when and where you collected your leaves and any information you have about the identity of the plant. Collections like this can be an important learning and research tool, as well as a useful reference resource.

With the excitement of spring, with all the glorious new plant growth,  it is a perfect time to investigate leaves.

Related activities:

1. Laura Purdie Salas has a teaching guide to use with the book on her website, with suggestions for art, science, math and literature activities.

2.The Botany & Art, and their roles in Conservation lesson plans include a podcast about botanical illustration. as well as other materials (at the Smithsonian).

3. Bookish Ways in Math and Science has a unit on plants that includes a “Leafy Comparison.”

4. Shirley at Simply Science has a review of A Leaf Can Be . . . and suggests taking a leaf walk.

5. Older children and adults might enjoy these leafy puns at The New York Times.

A Leaf Can Be . . .

Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Millbrook Pr Trade (February 1, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0761362037
ISBN-13: 978-0761362036


Disclosures: The author provided an electronic copy of this book for review purposes. Also, I am an affiliate for Amazon. If you click through the linked titles or ads and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Proceeds will be used to maintain this self-hosted blog.

Becoming Invisible: From Camouflage to Cloaks

Our weekend science fun was inspired by a book, Becoming Invisible: From Camouflage to Cloaks by Carla Mooney. Most children’s books about camouflage talk about how animals try to blend into their environment. This book is very different. It is about how modern engineers and scientists are trying to make the fictional invisibility cloak from the Harry Potter books into a reality. For a review of the book and links to more science books, see our sister blog, Wrapped in Foil.

Camouflage and invisibility are two very different things. Camouflage is the use of color or other aspects of appearance to help an object blend with its environment.

“Optical camouflage” is a form of camouflage which uses projectors to display scenes of the moving background onto special reflective cloaks. From the right angle, it is impossible to tell where the cloaked person (or object) is standing because he or she seems to be part of the background images. If the viewer isn’t in line with the projectors, however, the illusion doesn’t work.

Invisibility, on the other hand, is changing the way light reflects or refracts when it hits an object and thus preventing the light from reaching our eyes. We literally can not see an object that is invisible.

Becoming Invisible: From Camouflage to Cloaks tells how scientists have been able to bend electromagnetic waves that are near relatives of visible light (see Exploring Light and its Relatives Part I and Part 2) with special man-made materials called metamaterials. Using metamaterials made of metal and fiberglass, scientists have been able to develop “cloaks” that bend microwaves and infrared light around an object, hiding it from detection. Very cool!

Activity 1. Hiding with color – camouflage for younger children

Read one of the books suggested below to introduce the idea of camouflage.

Gather:

  • Fabric swatches of different colors and designs
  • Painter’s blue tape (doesn’t leave a residue when it is removed, but it is more expensive) or masking tape
  • Suitable area to play hide and seek, indoors or out

You might want to sort the children into teams if you are working with a large group. You will need enough swatches of fabric so that each child or team can hide a few different swatches. Make loops of tape with sticky-side out and then apply a few to the back of each swatch. Now select a child/team to be the hider. They will hide the swatch in plain sight in the play area by taping the swatch to items while the other children, who will be the seekers, close their eyes or wait in another area. When the hiders have applied their swatch, have the seekers come look for it. Once they have found it, change roles. The goal is to find a background object that matches the color close enough that the fabric is difficult to see, and thus takes longer to find.

Activity 2. Hiding with color- camouflage for older children

Gather:

  • Paper
  • Art supplies such as markers, crayons, colored pencils, etc.
  • Painter’s blue tape (doesn’t leave a residue when it is removed, but it is more expensive) or masking tape (optional)
  • Suitable area to play hide and seek (optional)

For older children, have them create their own camouflage patterns for different settings. You could also have the children do the hiding activity (1), but substitute their own designs on paper for the fabric swatches. Or figure out an experiment to test the effectiveness of various camouflage designs.

Activity 3. Making glass “disappear”

We don’t need high tech metamaterials to make an object invisible. We can hide a piece of Pyrex® glass by immersing it in a material that has a similar index of refraction, Wesson® oil.

Gather:

  • small Pyrex® glass bowl
  • A larger glass bowl
  • Wesson® oil or baby oil, or a mix of the two

Place the smaller bowl inside the larger bowl. Fill them both with Wesson® oil, baby oil, or a mix of the two. Once covered with oil, the smaller Pyrex® bowl should disappear from view.

See a similar activity using a Pyrex® stirring rod and explanation from Exploratorium

Activity 4. Make jelly marbles disappear in water

Obtain some jelly marbles from science supply stores, for example from Steve Spangler. Soak the jelly marbles overnight in water. Then fill a clear glass container with water. When you drop in the soaked jelly marbles, they will disappear.

Jelly marbles are polymers that absorb water. When they are swollen with water, they have the same index of refraction and disappear when you place them in water.

This video shows examples of both of the index of refraction activities:

Isn’t that amazing?

If you try any of these activities, be sure to let us know what you find out.

Related camouflage links:

Children’s books about camouflage (title links go to Amazon):

Hiding in Deserts (Creature Camouflage)
by Deborah Underwood

My review

Animal Planet Weird and Wonderful: Show-Offs (Animal Plant Weird & Wonderful) by Margaret McPhee is not just about camouflage, but all the ways animals use color.  My review

Where in the Wild?: Camouflaged Creatures Concealed… and Revealed by David Schwartz and Yael Schy, with photography by Dwight Kuhn My review

Where Else in the Wild? is a enchanting combination of poems by David M. Schwartz and his wife, Yael Schy, and photographs by Dwight Kuhn. My review

How to Hide an Octopus and Other Sea Creatures (Reading Railroad)
by Ruth Heller

How to Hide a Butterfly and Other Insects (Reading Railroad) by Ruth Heller.

What Color Is Camouflage? (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2) (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2) by Carolyn B. Otto and illustrated by Megan Lloyd

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