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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

Website: Website

Biography

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. She’s been writing science books ever since, and is now also writing
science fiction (The Lost Tribes) which hides real science between the
pages. Christine lives in Kansas City, Missouri with her husband,
daughters and cats who think she’s both servant and head of their pride.