Transportation

STEM Tuesday– Transportation– Book List

Explore transportation on land, sky, space, and sea with these great STEM reads.

Big Bertha by Amanda Abler and illustrated by Katy Wu

This is the true story of the enormous tunnel boring machine that was used to dig and build the longest and widest road tunnel in the continental United States. It explores how the machine worked and the real-world problem-solving involved in constructing a nearly two-mile long earthquake-safe highway underneath the city of Seattle.

Ultimate Trains (Machines of the Future) by Peter McMahon and illustrated by Andy Mora

Think of the many train tracks and the aerodynamic, fast trains that carry goods and passengers on those tracks in today’s world. Discover the history of trains from their beginnings to the present, and even where they could be heading in the future. This book includes accessible experiments that can be conducted at home or school to discover how STEM is involved in train movements.

From Here to There: Inventions that Changed the Way the World Moves by Vivian Kirkfield and Gilbert Ford

This book celebrates the inventors who transformed how we travel by land, air, and water. It highlights groundbreaking innovations like the passenger steam locomotive, hot air balloon, and automobile, and the visionary creators behind them. The book chronicles the experiments, failures, and successes that changed the way the world moves.

Means of Transport that Almost Changed the World Cover Picture

Means of Transport That Almost Changed the World by Tom Velcovsky and Stepanka Sekanivova, illustrated by Martin Sodomka

Many people are familiar with the vehicles that we see on a daily basis. But what about all the transportation inventions that were never duplicated? Complete with illustrations, this book takes us from 1900 onwards to see what STEM creations helped us progress to the types of transportation we do use today, despite not reaching the market. These ideas can be a launching pad to create our own invention, perhaps something that we will use for travel in the future!

Everything Tesla: From How They Work to How Fast They Go and All the Fun In Between! by Aiden Miao and Eliana Miao

Discover how social media and engineering worked together to reach a world market for Tesla products. Told through two children’s perspectives, this book provides diagrams and bite-sized details with analogies that support the science concepts along the way. The book shares the history, present, and future of Tesla innovations.

Means of Transport That Changed the World Book Cover

Means of Transport That Changed The World by Tom Velcovsky, Stepanka Sekaninova, and illustrated by Martin Sodomka

This book shares the sensationalized history of cars, trains, and planes through text and detailed illustrations. The authors include information about the history of well-known and less-known vehicles. The focus is on the tales told about various transportation.

Aircraft: The Definitive Visual History by DK Definitive Transport Guides

A guide on the history and evolution of aviation, this book showcases over 800 aircraft from early flying machines to modern jets. The book covers military and commercial planes decade by decade and includes the stories of the engineers and manufacturers, such as Boeing and Airbus, who shaped the aviation industry.

Transported: 50 Vehicles that Changed the World Matt Ralphs and Rui Ricardo

Explore fifty groundbreaking vehicles that have shaped history, from ancient chariots to solar-powered planes. The book showcases land, water, air and space transportation and includes details about how these inventions have changed the world and may shape the future.

Working Boats: An Inside Look at Ten Amazing Watercraft by Tom Crestodina

This book explores vessels like Coast Guard ships, research boats, and crabbing vessels, showing how they operate, the equipment they use, and what life is like for the crews on board. Using detailed cross sections and exploded views of ten working boats, revealing their inner mechanics and the jobs they’re built to do. It provides information on maritime instruments, safety gear, diesel engines, and more.

Save the Crash-Test Dummies by Jennifer Swanson

There’s lots to explore when it comes to the science of car safety and engineering. In this book, winner of the NSTA Best Stem Award, Jennifer Swanson, shares just the right amount of history about cars and how they work. Find out about the variety of crash-test dummies in the many experiments that have brought us to today’s remarkable level of car safety.

This month’s STEM Tuesday book list was prepared by:

Bev Schellenberg is an author (A Prince Among Dragons; A Princess Among Dragons), as well as a writer of creative nonfiction, poetry, and picture books. She’s an advocate of STEM who was a science fair national winner and high school robotics club sponsor, and passionate about young people discovering, following the passion inside them and flourishing. She’s taught grades kindergarten to grade 12 and is currently an academic advisor, careers teacher, and armchair futurist. Learn more about Bev at BevSchellenberg.com.

Carolyn Pfister is a STEM Content Developer, writer/illustrator, and coordinator of the California Early Math Project. She is interested in encouraging family and community STEM opportunities and maintaining children’s early love and success with math and science. Carolyn writes a monthly Substack on behalf of the California Early Math Project – https://carolynpfister.substack.com/. Learn more about Carolyn at Carolynpfister.com

Using Picture Books to Teach Middle Grade and Beyond

By Robyn Gioia on December 4, 2020 / Articles, Cross-Curricular, Curriculum Tie-in, Engineering, For Teachers, Homeschool Resource, STEM, Teacher Tips, Technology, Transportation

Teaching with Picture Books

by Robyn Gioia, M.Ed.

When most people think of picture books, they think of cute pictures and feel-good stories that thrill children from ages 0-7. But, teachers know better. There is much more to picture books than meets the eye.

Students have grown up with visuals since the day they were born. From elementary to high school, picture books can spark the imagination and open the eyes as an introduction to a subject. Picture books boil down to the main topic and draw the reader in with interesting tidbits. Our public libraries are full of wonderful picture books ready to do the job. Picture books inspire conversations and provide topics for research. They allow insightful tie-ins to curriculum and present opportunities for projects. Their pictures bring the topic to life. They create understanding unlike anything else. They are quick reads that can fit into almost any schedule.

Take the book, The Turtle Ship by Helena Ku Ree.

One of the greatest historical war heroes in the S. Korean culture was Admiral Yi Sun-Sin. He is known for saving Korea from Japan, a conquering country with a formidable naval fleet. Because of his design, the undefeatable Turtle ship had the ability to defeat the Japanese. His larger than life statue looms high over the skyline in Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul.

In the picture book, a young Sun-Sin comes to life as a boy who is afraid to enter a shipbuilding contest sponsored by the King. The King needs an indestructible ship able to withstand ongoing invasions from the sea. Sun-Sin decides to accept the challenge. The author imagines what experiences might have influenced a young Sun-Sin’s turtle ship design, and from there the story is told.

Teaching Middle Grade with Picture Books

(Artwork from “Fighting Ships of the Far East (2)” by Stephen Turnbull © Osprey Publishing, part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc)

The Turtle Ship picture book goes step by step through the design engineering process. Young Sun-Sin tries and fails at several design attempts before creating the design known today. This was something I was able to use in my 6th-grade science class. As we talked about the boy Sun-Sin and identified how the process was evolving, it created a bridge to understanding the design process. We had also learned that historically, a lot of designs were inspired by nature. The Wright brothers studied birds before designing the first airplane. In our story, Sun-Sin looks to his turtle for solutions.

When I used The Turtle Ship book in our lesson, my students were fascinated by the Turtle ship design from the 1500s. They learned the ship could rotate in one spot and fire cannons from each of its sides. They discovered soldiers were encased inside the ship so the enemy could not attack. They loved that the top was curved and covered in spikes to keep from being boarded by the enemy. They also learned that the hull was designed to ram into other vessels.

The Korean Turtle Ship

The turtle ship became one of the top engineering designs in warship history. You can read about this incredible ship and its design ingenuity on the U.S. Naval Institute News website. USNI News asked its readers, “What is the greatest warship of all time and why?” The answer can be found on the USNI News website https://news.usni.org/2016/04/06/survey-results-what-is-the-greatest-warship-of-all-time

Teachers in grade levels from primary to high school have used this story to inspire students with a wide range of activities and topics.

Engineering Design Process (EDP)

Research on Korean Inventions

Historical Fiction Comparative Study

Creating a Historical Timeline between Asia and American History

Writing Sijo, a Korean Poetic Form

Analyzing Civic Characteristics of Main Characters

Origin Story with Read-Alouds and Comparisons with Multiple Sources

Teaching Korea through Writing

Teaching Modern Asian Culture through History

Creative Writing

Using the Glossary for Vocabulary Understanding

Study of Honor

Compare and Contrast Other Korean Historical Picture Books

STEAM: Create a Vessel that Holds the Most Weight

STEAM: Design a Boat That is the Fastest

Downloadable Teaching resources:

Lee and Lowe Teaching Guide: TURTLE-SHIP.TG

Historical Information on Admiral Yi Sun-Sin: Admiral Yi Sunsin_KSCPP(1)

STEM Tuesday –Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and More! — Interview with Author Jennifer Swanson

By STEM Tuesday on October 22, 2019 / STEM Tuesday, Transportation

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re interviewing Jennifer Swanson, author of Save the Crash Test Dummies. Booklist gave it a starred review, calling it an “innovative blend of history, technology, and engineering…insightful fun. STEM at its best.”

Mary Kay Carson: Tell us a bit about your new book.

Watch the book trailer on YouTube!

Jennifer Swanson: The idea for this book came when I was writing another book — about electrical engineering. I did a section on the self-driving car and I was hooked. I wanted to ride in one, very badly. I sent email after email to Google asking if I could ride in one. Of course, I got no response. But that didn’t stop my interest. After all, I survived three teenage drivers, surely I could survive a self-driving car. 🙂 Anyway, I began to think, practically everyone rides in a car every day. I bet they don’t even think about how safe it is– OR how it got that way. Enter the crash-test dummies. We couldn’t live without them. Literally. Having them has helped engineers to save many, many lives. I knew then that I had to find a way to introduce the crash-test dummies to kids.

MKC: Any fun finds while researching the book?

Jennifer: I read a lot of car manuals and watched a LOT of videos of crashes. It was pretty cool. I do have to say my favorite moment, though, might have been when I came across the old crash-test dummy commercials that I remember watching as a kid. They are so fun! Here is a YouTube link to one of them if you want to check it out.

MKC: Do you choose to specifically write STEM books?

Jennifer: I have loved science my whole life. After all, I started a science club in my garage when I was 7 years old. My mom gave me a microscope and I used to collect leaves and flowers to look at under it. Gradually, my interests grew and I spent hours in the creek behind my house, making compounds with my multiple chemistry sets, and began dreaming of becoming a doctor one day. While that didn’t happen, I did get my B.S. in chemistry from the U.S. Naval Academy and my M.S. Ed in K-8 science education. Now I’m not just a science author, but also a middle school science teacher for Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.

MKC: What approach or angle did you take to writing this book?

Jennifer Swanson is the award-winning author of over 35 nonfiction books for children. Her passion for science resonates in in all her books but especially, BRAIN GAMES (NGKids) and SUPER GEAR: Nanotechnology and Sports Team Up (Charlesbridge) which was named an NSTA Best STEM book of 2017. She has presented at multiple SCBWI conferences, National NSTA conferences, the Highlights Foundation, the World Science Festival and the Atlanta Science Festival. Visit her at jenniferswansonbooks.com.

Jennifer: When I write about technology and engineering I try to find a unique entry point, one that is FUN and unexpected. For this book, I really wanted to write a book about self-driving cars, but that seemed a bit, well, blah. I mean I find the engineering and technology that makes a self-driving car exciting and interesting, but not everyone does. So I asked myself how I could make this book interesting to people who maybe wouldn’t normally pick it up to read. The idea came to me after watching an old-time crash-test dummy commercial on TV. While on a walk with my husband, I made the comment that if we all went to self-driving cars, we wouldn’t need any more crash-test dummies. He responded by agreeing, saying you’d probably save alot of crash-test dummies. then. WHAM! That was it! Save the Crash-test Dummies, the history of car safety engineering. What a unique way to tell this story. Not only that, when I tell people the title, they usually smile (always a good sign). You see, finding a way to make engineering intriguing and complex topics easy to understand in my goal in my books.

Who did I write this book for? The kid who has TONS of questions about how the world works. That’s who I write all my books to. After all, I still am that 9-year-old kid that was full of curiosity and spent many hours devouring encyclopedias and nonfiction books at the library. Research ROCKS!

MKC: Could you give us a peek into your process?

Jennifer: My writing process is to find the hook for the book first. Usually that is in my title. For example, I wanted to write a book about nanotechnology and sports, so I titled my book SUPER GEAR: Nanotechnology and Sports Team Up. For my book comparing Astronauts and Aquanauts, I titled it (of course) Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact. When the hook to your book is in your title, people understand what the book is about right away. The second part of making a book is to find the structure. I ask myself, “what is the best way for this information to be presented?”. Then I read widely and look at a lot of mentor texts. Eventually I set on a structure. After I have those two things, I dive in into the research and write.

Win a FREE copy of Save the Crash Test Dummies!

Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. The randomly-chosen winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (within the U.S. only) to receive the book.

Good luck!

Your host is Mary Kay Carson, author of The Tornado Scientist, Alexander Graham Bell for Kids, Mission to Pluto, Weird Animals, and other nonfiction books for kids. @marykaycarson

Transportation

STEM Tuesday– Transportation– Book List

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