Reviewed by Teri Cosentino
6th-7th grade science teacher
The latest buzz acronym in science education is STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math. How to incorporate STEM into the science curriculum has been the subject of conferences, journal articles, and professional development. Unfortunately, many of today's teachers do not feel prepared to provide practical experiences in the practices of engineering as defined by the new Frameworks for K–12 Science Education.
This new book breathes new life into familiar activities like bridge building and tunnel digging by not only teaching about the building of these structures, but how to incorporate the methods of engineers as they identify the problem, design, build, test, and evaluate and redesign.
It teaches about the history of these structures, the types of different bridge and tunnel structures, and the problems encountered throughout building, not only on the structure, but on human impact. There is a great deal of information jam–packed into this book—facts about different historical and present day structures, experiments which facilitate understanding of gravity, action/reaction, how metals rust, how a seismograph works, or what liquefaction is. This book is a treasure trove of information, experiments, and building challenges, and is an excellent, exciting, and easy way to incorporate STEM education into your classroom, science fair, or after school engineering club.
Review posted on 6/19/2012
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