Posts Tagged nonfiction

STEM Tuesday – Shining the Light on Technology, Engineering, and Math — In the Classroom

By on June 12, 2018   /   Diversity, Engineering, Math, Nonfiction, STEM Tuesday, Technology  

Last week, the STEM Tuesday team featured this month’s Book List on the topic Shining the Light on Technology, Engineering, and Math. Click here to go back to that list.  It’s a broad-ranging list, certainly, which mades this week’s post about classroom applications even more fun! I’ve narrowed the focus to three amazing science topics.

CODING:

   Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World is by Reshma Saujani.  Saujani is not only the author of an amazing book, but she’s also the founder of a worldwide organization by the same name. Girls Who Code offers free summer programs and year-round clubs and is more than 90,000 girls strong! After sharing this book in your classrooms and libraries, visit the Girls Who Code website and find out how to start a club in your school or community.

And, the book? You’ll have see it to believe it. Half how-to, half graphic novel, this is the most clearly written, interactive, and non-intimidating explanation of coding of I’ve ever seen. As an adult reader, I was fascinated. Middle-graders – boys or girls – won’t find a more thorough introduction into coding anywhere.

ARCHITECHTURE:

From the temples of Greece to the Chrysler Building in New York City to the Sydney Opera House, The Story of Buildings is a visual feast paired with fascinating detail and information about dozens of the most famous buildings in the world.

Do a “Before You Go” Project:  Every school is different when it comes to field trips and travel opportunities for middle-graders. Some schools take an annual trip to Washington, DC, where the focus is often American history, but the opportunity for architectural study abounds.  My own children, who all attended a very rural public school, had the fortune to spend a weekend in Chicago as fifth graders, where everyone took the Chicago River Architectural Boat Tour.  Urban students might only need to go out their school’s front doors and look up to find inspiring examples of architecture.  Whether your class field trip takes you miles or minutes from home, consider using this book as a “before you go” learning experience.  The prior knowledge will shine through as your students recognize structural and design elements in every building they see.

ROBOTICS:

When it comes to robotics, classroom applications are seemingly endless! Below is a list of possible activities to explore after reading Jennifer Swanson’s Everything Robotics from National Geographic Kids.

  • Find a workshop, event, or online challenge for teams and individuals by clicking here to go to Robot Events, a web service of The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, which exists to connect students, mentors, and schools in every community to a variety of successful and engaging technology-based programs.
  • LEGO fun. Click here to go the LEGO Middle School Education page.
  • Enlist NASA’s help! Visit NASA’s Robotics Alliance Project page for 6th – 8th graders for a list of links you’ll love!
  • Robot Scavenger Hunt – Robots are all around us. Start small. See if students can find any robots at work in their school or community. On a larger scale, take a look at robots in manufacturing. This interesting article will help you and your students locate which states rely most heavily on robotics to produce the goods we use every day.
  • Predicting the future:  Brainstorm in small groups what the future of robotics might hold. What are some potential practical uses of robotics that might make life better?
  • Hold a debate.  Are robots the key to a productive future? Or do they threaten jobs once filled by humans? Is there a possibility that robots could become too intelligent?  Here’s a great resource for holding classroom debates. I’d like to be a fly on the wall in a middle-grade classroom for this one!

Can you add to the conversation? In what ways have you been shining a light on Technology, Engineering, and Math? Comment below and share an idea!

Today’s STEM Tuesday post was prepared by Michelle Houts, wanna-be-coder, fan of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, future robot owner, and author of the Lucy’s Lab Chapter Books from Sky Pony Press.

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STEM Tuesday – Shining the Light on Technology, Engineering, and Math — Book List

By on June 5, 2018   /   Engineering, Math, MUF Contributor Books, Nonfiction, STEM Tuesday, Technology  

This month’s theme focuses specifically on the TEM in STEM. The following list features  books that use technology, engineering, and math in real-world situations. We hope they inspire young readers–and you! the adults in their lives –to promo all STEM categories. If you have other title ideas for middle-grade readers, please share them in the comment section below.

The Next Wave: The Quest to Harness the Power of the Oceans  by Elizabeth Rusch  In this Scientists in the Field title, we meet the engineers working to transfer the power of the ocean into energy for us to use. Through imagination, innovation, and science they have developed devices to create “ocean electricity” that is renewable and an alternative to using fossil fuels.

Hidden Figures: Young Readers Edition by Margot Lee Sheerly  This edition of the bestselling book of the same title allows younger readers to become empowered by the powerful story of the African-American female NASA mathematicians who were instrumental in our early space program.

 

Everything Robots by Jennifer Swanson  We’ve already seen robotic vacuums, but can you imagine tiny robo-bees or a joke-telling robot? Readers will discover an entirely new world of technology in this National Geographic book. Packed with visuals, readers will explore what artificial intelligence is all about.

The Way Things Work Now by David Macauley
This revised and updated edition for Macauley’s The Way Things Work includes wi-fi, touchscreens, 3D printers, as well as levers, lasers, and windmills.  Budding engineers will love this one!

 

The Story of Buildings: From the Pyramids to the Sydney Opera House and Beyond by Patrick Dillon, illustrated by Stephen Biesty Aspiring architects will enjoy the look at the inner workings of many famous buildings in this book.

 

Women of Steel and Stone: 22 Inspirational Architects, Engineers, and Landscape Designers by Anna M. LewisThis book features 22 profiles of women who have designed, built, and landscaped our world. The inspirational stories are perfect for Women’s History Month and every month after.

 

 

Curious Jane: Science + Design + Engineering for Inquisitive Girls by Curious Jane   The pages of Curious Jane are filled with DIY projects from making face scrubs to building a cloud in a jar.

 

Coding programs have sprung up all over the country. These next two books can get girls (and boys) started on creating apps, games, and robots. Readers will have fun exploring the world of computer science .

Girls Who Code: Learn To Code and Change the World by Reshma Saujani, illus. by Andrea Tsurum

 

Girl Code: Gaming, Going Viral, and Getting it Done by Andrea Gonzalez and Sophie Houser

 

 

And a fabulous FICTION series to pair with the above two coding titles:

Monsters and Modules by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes — the final installment in the Secret Coders series
This title will be released October 2, 2018, but until then students can solve logic puzzles and learn basic coding skills while Hopper, Eni, and Josh solve a mind-bending mystery.

 

STEM Tuesday book lists prepared by:

Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years including her 2016 title, THE STORY OF SEEDS: From Mendel’s Garden to Your Plate, and How There’s More of Less To Eat Around The World, which earned the Green Earth Book Award and other honors. Nancy’s research has taken her all over the world from the Galapagos to Russia. She enjoys sharing her adventures, research, and writing tips. She strives to inform, inspire, and educate her readers. Nancy also serves as the Regional Advisor of the Eastern NY SCBWI region. Her 2018 title is BACK FROM THE BRINK: Saving Animals from Extinction. www.nancycastaldo.com

Patricia Newman writes middle-grade nonfiction that inspires kids to seek connections between science, literacy, and the environment. The recipient of  a Sibert Honor Award for Sea Otter Heroes and the Green Earth Book Award for Plastic, Ahoy!, her books have received starred reviews, been honored as Junior Library Guild Selections, and included on Bank Street College’s Best Books lists. During author visits, she demonstrates how her writing skills give a voice to our beleaguered environment. Visit her at www.patriciamnewman.com.

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STEM Tuesday Cool Inventions and the People Who Create Them – Interview with author Mary Kay Carson

By on May 22, 2018   /   Author Interviews, Inventors / Inventions, STEM, STEM Tuesday  

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 author Mary Kay Carson who wrote this month’s featured cool invention book, Alexander Graham Bell for Kids: His Life and Inventions 

Find out how Alexander Graham Bell invented not only the telephone, but also early versions of the phonograph, the metal detector, airplanes, and hydrofoil boats. This Scottish immigrant was also a pioneering speech teacher and a champion of educating those with hearing impairments, work he felt was his most important contribution to society. Bell worked with famous Americans such as Helen Keller and aviators Glenn Curtiss and Samuel P. Langley, and his inventions competed directly with those of Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers.

May Kay’s books include  a number of titles in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s award-winning SCIENTISTS IN THE FIELD series, including  Park Scientists and The Bat Scientists, an ALA’s 2011 Notable Children’s Books for Middle Readers. Her book Exploring the Solar System was the 2009 recipient of the American Institute ofAeronautics and Astronautics Children’s Literature Award and the State Library of Ohio selected Beyond the Solar System as a CHOOSE TO READ OHIO book for 2015 & 2016. Visit her at marykaycarson.com  or on Twitter at @MaryKayCarson

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JAS: Thanks for joining us today, Mary Kay. This is a fabulous book! I love how you found such a unique trait to describe this historical figure. I mean, everyone knows that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, but not many know why. Can you tell us how you discovered this fact? And also why you used it to create your whole book?

MKC: In today’s terms, we’d call Alexander Graham Bell a third-generation speech therapist. Bell’s father and grandfather worked with people trying to overcome speech impediments like stuttering or pronunciation struggles because of hearing impairments. Alexander Graham Bell was born into a family where the proper mouth position for making the sound of S was dinner table talk. Bell naturally went into this line of work, as well. Growing up with a mother who couldn’t hear gave him a deep understanding of both the isolation of the hearing impaired as well as a motivation for understanding how sound is made, transmitted, and perceived.

JAS: How did you come up with all of the activities? And why did you choose to add activities to your book?

MKC: I knew Alexander Graham Bell For Kids would include activities as a title in the Chicago Review Press “For Kids” series, all of which have 21 activities. It’s actually why I thought the book would be such a good fit for the series. Bell’s experiments, investigations, and inventions run the gamut from sound and light to flying machines and sheep genetics. The telephone invention alone lends itself to activities about electricity, sound, vibrations, and batteries. I’ve written four other books in this series with activities and Alexander Graham Bell For Kids was by far the easiest to come up with activities for. He was a wellspring of ideas.

JAS: The use of original sketches of Bell’s inventions are really great. How difficult was it to get permission to use them?

MKC: The Library of Congress has a huge Alexander Graham Bell archive, much of it digitized and in the public domain. It includes laboratory notebooks, invention blueprints, journals, personal letters, and photographs. It’s a real treasure trove of primary source material.

JAS: Why do you think learning about inventors is a so important for kids?

MKC: One of my favorite Bell quotes is: “The inventor is a man who looks around upon the world and is not contented with things as they are. He wants to improve whatever he sees, he wants to benefit the world.” To me, Bell’s description of an inventor actually describes young people in general. Most see the world as overdue for upgrades and improvements. Many have ideas on how to make things better, too. Being able to envision something different is the first step to inventing. Whether we’re talking about tackling a changing climate or designing a fun video game, it all starts with “What if…”

JAS: How would you suggest a teacher use your book in the classroom?

MKC: There are quite a few ways teachers can use the book in the classroom. The biography itself is instructive on how life experiences shaped the inventor that Bell became. The primary source material is cited and resources given for older kids who want to dig deeper into Bell’s life and legacy. Some of the activities in the book are simple enough for even kindergarteners to explore sound and light. Other activities are more open ended and challenge students to think of and execute an idea of their own.

Buy a Copy of the Alexander Graham Bell book

Praise for Alexander Graham Bell: “Many of the activities featured throughout the chapters, such as making an ear trumpet and feeling sound vibrations, use materials readers likely have at home, fairly easily giving them a taste of the devices used during Bell’s time and illustrating properties of sound. Avid readers can also pursue activities that require special purchases, such as seeing sound and making a pie-tin telegraph. Numerous black-and-white photographs of Bell and his family, period scenery, and artifacts immerse readers in the world of this prolific inventor, from his free-roaming childhood through his adulthood as a teacher of the deaf, an inventor many times over, and a family man. Children who enjoy exploring different symbolic communication codes, historical sciences, and inventions will find much to dig into in this detailed volume.

Thorough and well-rounded. (timeline, resources, glossary, notes, bibliography)”–Kirkus

 

Win a FREE copy of the Alexander Graham Bell book!   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! 

Hosting this week is Jennifer Swanson, fellow science nerd, and author of Astronaut Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact and other nonfiction books for kids. @JenSwanBooks

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