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STEM Tuesday
  • White skeleton of chest and neck glows against a blue outline of a human body, against a black background. Text reads: Super Science Feats: Medical Breakthroughs: X-Rays
    STEM Tuesday– Radio/UV Waves and Applied Physics — In the Classroom
    February 11, 2025 by
        Understanding and Using Radio Waves by Elizabeth Rubio The focus of this book is on the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum called radio waves, but it also does a good job covering what the electromagnetic spectrum is. It also explains the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, which ties into the books X-Rays and The Radium Girls. The book also looks at the many ways radio waves are used.   Super Science Feats: Medical Breakthroughs: X-Rays by Alicia Z. Klepeis This book briefly covers what x-rays are and what they can do.   The Radium Girls by Kate Moore What happens when people are exposed to light waves emitted from radioactive material? This book tells the stories of a group of women who were exposed to radioactive radium through their work. This is not an easy read emotionally, but it tells a very important story.     Microwaves by Tracy Vonder Brink Ever wondered how microwave ovens work?...
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  • STEM Tuesday-- Radio/UV Waves and Applied Physics -- Book List
    STEM Tuesday– Radio/UV Waves and Applied Physics — Book List
    February 4, 2025 by
                  All the things you cannot see! This book list gives an introduction of all the different kinds of waves and radiation out there – and their sometimes surprising applications.       Wave Hi and Goodbye to Energy!: An Introduction to Waves by Baby Professor With colorful photographs and simple explanations, this book gives a basic introduction to the different waves of energies and their applications in day to day life.               Radar and the Raft: A True Story About a Scientific Marvel, the Lives it Saved, and the World it Changed  by Jeff Lantos Are you looking for a tale that includes scientific discoveries, the dangers of war and a family in peril? This is the book for you. Jeff Lantos connects the dots between batteries and radar during World War II while adding into the...
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  • STEM Tuesday-- Fossils-- Author Interview
    STEM Tuesday– Fossils– Author Interview
    January 28, 2025 by
    Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math! Today we’re interviewing Alison Pearce Stevens, author of Rhinos in Nebraska. Rhinos is the tale of a supervolcano, its aftermath, and the intrepid scientist who discovered one of the world’s greatest paleontology sites–an ancient Nebraska waterhole filled with the fossilized skeletons of hundreds of animals that look like they came straight out of Africa. This book is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection that’s won three Nebraska Book Awards! Andi Diehn: Time as a character – there’s a lot of discussion of time in your book – the time that’s passed since ancient animals lived in Nebraska, the time it takes to turn bones into fossils, how time can change a landscape and make it hard to find the exact location where a fossil was found. Why is geological time an important concept...
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  • STEM Tuesday-- Fossils-- Writing Tips & Resources
    STEM Tuesday– Fossils– Writing Tips & Resources
    January 21, 2025 by
                Welcome again to STEM Tuesday! I’m Stephanie. When you’ve been writing for a long time, coming across an old piece of writing is like finding a fossil—it’s a record of a bygone era: incomplete, stripped of context, languishing unstudied. The metaphor breaks down eventually, because I’m no paleontologist, but you get the idea. We all have tidbits of stories that we’ve never completely unearthed, or found all the pieces of. And in that spirit, instead of generative prompts, today we have revision prompts! Revision Prompt 1 | Dig, Discover, Excavate Pickaxes and rock hammers ready? It’s time to revisit a piece of writing, something you haven’t looked at for a long time. Where do you keep these things? I have discarded notebooks, a drawer of ideas jotted on paper scraps, a list of odd facts, and files scattered on two computers. Wherever your archeological...
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Contributors

Photo of Christine Taylor Butler

Christine Taylor Butler

Christine Taylor-Butler has been a prolific consumer of public
libraries from an early age. A consummate tinkerer it was deemed
advisable she study engineering at MIT for job security. Years later she made a break for the corporate door and delved into children’s literature hoping to write stories about talking animals when a sneaky editor at Scholastic conned her into writing non-fiction for children.…

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Callie Dean

Callie Dean is a musician, writer, educator, and program evaluator. She teaches applied research at Eastern University and is passionate about the role of the arts in effecting community transformation. She lives in Shreveport, La., with her husband and two sons.  She is the director of CYBER.ORG, a STEM education organization with a national network of more than 25,000 K-12 teachers.…

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Andi Diehn

Andi Diehn grew up near the ocean chatting with horseshoe crabs and now lives in the mountains surrounded by dogs, cats, lizards, chickens, ducks, moose, deer, and bobcats, some of which help themselves to whatever she manages to grow in the garden. You are most likely to find her reading a book, talking about books, writing a book, or discussing politics with her sons.…

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Mike Hays

Mike Hays is from Kansas and is a tried and true flatlander by birth. He would most assuredly be obsessed with a statue of mysterious origins, especially if he could buy said statue on the cheap. He has worked as a molecular microbiologist for over 25 years, has coached high school sports, and writes middle-grade books.…

Photo of Sue Heavenrich

Sue Heavenrich

Sue Heavenrich is an award-winning author, blogger, and bug-watcher. A long line of ants marching across the kitchen counter inspired her first article for kids. When not writing, she’s either in the garden or tromping through the woods. Her books for middle-grade readers include Funky Fungi: 30 Activities for Exploring Molds, Mushrooms, Lichens, and More and Diet for a Changing Climate.…

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Stephanie Jackson

Stephanie Jackson’s poems and prose have been published in Cricket magazine and various literary journals including Touchstones, where she’s been a contributing poetry editor. A nature-loving creative, she writes picture books, middle-grade novels, and more. Professional memberships include the Authors Guild, the American Night Writers Association, the Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators, and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.…

Photo of Karen Latchana Kenney

Karen Latchana Kenney

Karen Latchana Kenney loves to write books about animals, and looks for them wherever she goes—from leafcutter ants trailing through the Amazon rain forest in Guyana, where she was born, to puffins in cliff-side burrows on the Irish island of Skellig Michael. She especially enjoys creating books about nature, biodiversity, conservation, and groundbreaking scientific discoveries—but also writes about civil rights, astronomy, historical moments, and many other topics.…

Photo of Margo Lemieux

Margo Lemieux

A recently retired professor of art, Margo is devoted to seeing that the A stays in STEAM. Science & technology need the heart that comes with art. It was lack of heart that led to the ecological crisis we have today. The process of creativity is closely related to that of scientific inquiry.

She is a  published picture book writer and illustrator, editor, poet, and amateur ukulele player.…

Photo of Lydia Lukidis

Lydia Lukidis

Lydia Lukidis is the author of 48 trade and educational books, as well as 31 e-Books. Her latest STEM book, THE BROKEN BEES’ NEST (Kane Press, 2019), was nominated for a CYBILS Award, and her forthcoming STEM book, DEEP, DEEP, DOWN: The Secret Underwater Poetry of the Mariana Trench will be published by Capstone in 2023.…

Photo of Maria Marshall

Maria Marshall

Maria is a children’s author, blogger, and poet passionate about making nature and reading fun for children. She was a round 2 judge for the 2018 & 2017 Cybils Awards. And a judge for the #50PreciousWords competition since its inception. Two of her poems are published in The Best Of Today’s Little Ditty 2016 and 2014-2015 anthologies.…

Photo of Carla Mooney

Carla Mooney

Carla Mooney loves to explore the world around us and discover the details about how it works. An award-winning author of numerous nonfiction science books for kids and teens, she hopes to spark a healthy curiosity and love of science in today’s young people. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, three kids, and dog. When not writing, she can often be spotted at a hockey rink for one of her kids’ games.…

Photo of Shruthi Rao

Shruthi Rao

Shruthi was that kid who actually enjoyed writing essays in school! She wrote her first novel when she was eleven. It was an Enid Blyton rip-off. It was terrible (so she says). She didn’t write stories for a long time after that. Instead, Shruthi got a Master’s degree in Energy Engineering from one of the top schools of India, and worked in the IT industry for four years.…

Photo of Janet Slingerland

Janet Slingerland

Janet Slingerland grew up studying animals and conducting science experiments before pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. She spent 15 years writing code for things like submarines, phones, and airplanes before deciding to share her passion for knowledge and STEM with others. Janet now has more than 20 published books for readers in grades K through 12, including Explore Atoms and Molecules!…

Photo of Susan Summers

Susan Summers

Susan started her career as a zookeeper and enjoyed working with polar bears, wolves, and owls – to name just a few of her favorite animals. Interest in science and nature firmly took hold and she followed that career by becoming a wildlife biologist. In this engaging field, she was able to participate in research on a variety of wildlife, including bears, bats, and fabulous birds!…

Photo of Jennifer Swanson

Jennifer Swanson

Jennifer Swanson dreams of one day running away to the Museum of Science and Industry- then maybe she could look at all the exhibits and try out all the gadgets without competing for them with her kids. An author of thirty nonfiction science books for grades 3-6, Jennifer’s goal is to show kids that Science Rocks!…