Forces and Motion

Children's Literature - Children's Literature

Did you know that a bullet fired from a gun at a level flight path will hit the ground at the same time as a bullet that is dropped from the same height? Or did you know that a tennis ball is nearly flattened when it is hit with the racket? Snedden has filled this text with all types of interesting science facts and trivia to keep the young reader reading. Each new topic comes complete with a "Try This" segment for hands-on learning. Wonderful photographs and illustrations accompany each section to allow full understanding. A glossary is also included for easy comprehension. A neat book that will be valuable in the science classroom for early learners. This book is part of the "Smart Sciences" series. 1999, Heinemann Library, Ages 10 up, $21.36. Reviewer: Scott S. Floyd

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6
These titles provide straightforward and clear discussions of their topics. The layout is bright and colorful, with photographs and illustrations on almost every page. Charts and diagrams that complement the texts are included throughout. In addition, the authors make use of sidebars and boxed areas to highlight key individuals and pertinent quotes, and offer other supplemental information. For example, The Nature of Matter includes a fact box profiling John Dalton. Transfer discusses heat, light, and energy in other forms, as well as sources and more. Parker discusses various types of electricity, and how electricity and magnetism work together and affect our everyday lives. Forces and Motion includes fact boxes on Galileo, Isaac Newton, and Blaise Pascal. Readers are introduced to Newton's Laws, friction, speed and acceleration, and more. In all four books, explanations are easy to read and cover their subjects well.
—Maren OstergardCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Julia Beiker

Someone pushes a couch across a room or pulls back on a bow and arrow. Both of these activities exert what scientist call force. Some of the most important elements in force can be air, water, gravity, and magnets. In this book, we find out more how these elements create force on everyday objects that make our lives easier. The most fascinating part of this book is the hands-on experiments that show young potential scientists ways to set up and collect data and how force happens. Each experiment reminds the young science how the scientific procedure works through observing, predicting, fair testing, recording, making a conclusion, experimenting/answers, and what went wrong. With a handy notebook and a large cardboard box, the young scientist can draw their own conclusions. Even though scientific information can be complex and hard to grasp, this book is written with easy to read text and helpful photographs. In the back of the book, it even includes test results from scientists for comparisons. A great resource book to help explain a complicated scientific field, it belongs in any school, public or home library. This book is part of the "The Real Scientist Investigates" series. Reviewer: Julia Beiker