Science Projects about Light

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8These books offer a wealth of demonstrations covering basic principles of electricity, magnetism, light, and heat. A few call for simple calculations, and many are accompanied by black-and-white diagrams. As a rule, the well-designed projects build sequentially on one another, developing concepts in the process. Discussions of procedures and results are short and clear. Although extensive lists of science equipment suppliers are provided, most projects require only household materials. Suggestions for additional activities are included. For Gardner's fans, however, these titles are somewhat disappointing. They present little new material, and the experiments are not spiced up with interesting historical or science tidbits. Nevertheless, ``ordinary'' Gardner equals many other authors' best work.Alan Newman, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC