Review of Various Texts
John L. Hubisz, Ph.D., Hubisz@unity.ncsu.edu

Wonderland Revisited: The New World of Mr. Tompkins, George Gamow and Russell Stannard, Cambridge University Press, pp.258 + ix, (2001) $16.95

When I received my acceptance letter to high school, there was a list of 100 books included. The implication was obvious — I was expected to have read the books by the fall. Gamow’s One Two Three … Infinity was fantastic and I sought out other books by Gamow. I found Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland and Mr. Tompkins Explores the Atom. These books are still worth reading and are available bound together as Mr. Tompkins in Paperback.

Now we have The New World of Mr. Tompkins — fully revised and updated by Russell Stannard. Where the old still works, it is there. Much is rewritten and much has been added. We have the Big Bang, black holes, heat death of the Universe, accelerator probes, quarks, and so on. The quantum safari is brilliant, and you cannot tell that Gamow did not write it.

You will not doze off reading these lectures!

Science Experiences for the Early Childhood Years 2^nd edition by Jean Harlan published by Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 237 + xi pages, (1980)

Lots of references to the literature. Good introduction to why it is important that children’s natural curiosity be directed toward answering questions about the world around them. The exercises are clearly laid out and require only simple materials available everywhere. There are eight chapters of physics experiments and one each on rocks and minerals, plants, and animals. My students who have reviewed this book have always given it high marks.

Essentials of Elementary Science 2^nd edition by Daniel C. Dobey, Robert J. Beichner, and Sharon L. Raimondi published by Allyn and Bacon, 194 + xiii pages, (1999)

Excellent resource for the teacher! Lots of references to the literature, especially in the area of what physics education researchers (PERs) have learned about how science is learned, lists of practical resources and web sites in every chapter. There are chapters on today’s elementary science classroom, the student, the teacher, the science program and then four chapters on teaching children about different areas of science, followed by a final chapter on science in the community and everyday life. There are many science activities to try. Common misconceptions are pointed out in order to warn teachers in advance of introducing a topic.

Environmental Science: A Collection of Activities for the Middle School Classroom compiled and edited by The Science House, North Carolina State University published by the National Science Foundation and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes, (2001)

There are three units of activities that come from six different sources: NC WILD, Project WET, Project Learning Tree, S.E.A. Lab, Water Sourcebook, and SEPUP. The activities can be easily integrated into regular science class activity. The units attempt to answer three questions: What is Environmental Science?, What are the Tools of Environmental Science?, and What are the Problems Facing Environmental Science? A Competency Goal Matrix and other suggestions are provided to show how these activities mesh with various science standards. There are good practical examples from history and present day problems that illustrate science and there is no political agenda being promoted.

Environmental Science: A Collection of Activities for the High School Classroom compiled and edited by The Science House, North Carolina State University published by the National Science Foundation and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes, (2000), 2^nd printing (2001)

This book is similar to the Middle School book from the same source, but obviously the exercises are at a higher level.

Facts not Fear: A Parent’s Guide to Teaching Children about the Environment Michael Sanera and Jane S. Shaw published by Regnery Publishing, Inc., 300 + xviii pages, (1996)

Many of the books that we reviewed in the report on Middle School Physical Science texts made unsubstantiated claims about environmental problems, often scaring the reader. This book provides many simple exercises that help place these problems in perspective thereby helping to make our children think in the way scientists think. This is an excellent resource for teachers who do not have the time to research all the claims.

Teaching Physics with Toys: Activities for Grades K-9 by Beverley A.P. Taylor, James Poth, and Dwight J. Portman published by TAB Books, 296 + viii pages (1995)

Toys are of interest to scientists, to teachers, and to students. They are fun! Not only are they fun, but they are based on physical principles that are readily elucidated. The authors have used toys with their students from kindergarten to college and presented hundreds of workshops for teachers that are almost always oversubscribed. A popular practice is to ask students to bring in a toy and then use it to discuss a science topic.

Teaching Chemistry with Toys: Activities for Grades K-9 by Jerry L. Sarquis, Mickey Sarquis, and John P. Williams published by Learning Triangle Press, 296 + viii pages (1995)

In the same vein as Teaching Physics with Toys this book emphasizes toys with chemistry as the underlying discipline.

Spills and Ripples: Grades 5-12 by Robert F. Benjamin, Jim Wilson, and Dave Youngs published by AIMS Education Foundation, P.O. Box 8120, Fresno, CA 93747-8120, (888)733-2467, 143 + x pages (2001)

The development and writing of this book was supported by the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy. The Raleigh-Taylor instability is often not even mentioned in college physics courses. The authors have used this phenomenon to introduce youngsters to a wide variety of everyday events through experimental exercises that clarify the concepts of pressure, density, and surface tension. The authors give seven reasons for studying this phenomenon in the early grades: it helps to understand the everyday world, many of the observations and data are visually striking, it helps to clarify the often difficult concepts of density and pressure, it’s a lot of fun, it demonstrates that an event can have predictable aspects and simultaneously unpredictable features, it introduces a bit of engineering, and lastly it shows that physical properties of materials can have both static and dynamic effects.

Teachers can make up to 200 copies of materials for classroom use at their school and workshop leaders can make up to 35 copies for participants.

Square Wheels and other easy-to-build, hands-on science activities by Don Rathjen and Paul Doherty published by the Exploratorium, 3601 Lyon Street, San Francisco, CA 94123, 149 + xi pages (2002) http://www.exploratorium.edu

The Exploratorium is a "must-visit" hands-on museum in San Francisco. In order to export this fabulous resource, the Exploratorium staff has published three very successful Exploratorium Cookbooks detailing the construction of many of their displays. (Years ago I got a grant from the Moody Foundation to build a few of these displays for circulation among the schools in Galveston County, Texas.) These books were followed by the Exploratorium Science Snackbook that detailed less expensive versions of 107 of these displays. Square Wheels … is a successor to the Snackbook. Understandably, it continues this excellent tradition.

The Best of WonderScience: over 400 Hands-on Elementary Science Activities published by Delmar Publishers/International Thomson Publishing Company, 531 + xxv pages (1997)

WonderScience was a magazine aimed at elementary science teachers and students. Although supported by the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Physics, it never reached a large enough circulation to remain viable. The materials were very well done and its demise is regrettable. Fortunately, many of the hands-on exercises have been collected and are now more readily available. All exercises are linked to National Science Education Standards.

read another review of this book

The Best of WonderScience (Volume 2): over 200 Hands-on Elementary Science Activities published by Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 423 + viii pages (2001)

A second most welcomed volume.

Enrico Fermi And the Revolutions of Modern Physics, Dan Cooper, Oxford University Press, New York, 1999, 120 pp., $21.00

This is one of the "Oxford Portraits in Science," a continuing series (presently numbering about 25) of scientific biographies for young adults. The book is excellent and should prove a popular resource and inspiration for young people. Fermi's life is covered from his early childhood to his untimely death in 1954. There is a good balance of pictures, diagrams, physics, and textual material that should prove appealing to most readers.

There are very few misprints, but I do hope that Newton's birth year either be designated Old Style or changed to "1643" and that his second and third laws be restated for clarity and completeness in the next printing. I was surprised that no comment was made about the error on Fermi's blackboard (cover picture and page 91.)

Science Fun with Toys: A Guide for Parents and Teachers with Resource Descriptions for Unique & Educational Toys, Thomas W. Sills, Dearborn Resources, Chicago, 1999, xvii+193 pp., $17.95

Many of our members use toys to illustrate physics concepts and as the basis for performing demonstrations and carrying out experiments. Some have published books (e.g., Teaching Physics with TOYS by Taylor, Poth, & Portman) and others have provided us with extensive handouts with the physics of particular toys (e.g., "Toys & Physics" by Nancy & James Watson.) These folks and others (e.g., Ray Turner) have presented very popular workshops that are almost always oversubscribed. One of the valuable pieces of information from all these activities has been the addresses of the sources for the toys. Science Fun … is simply a list of sources with descriptions of particular toys available and always a note to get the company's catalog. E-mail addresses, web sites, telephone numbers (often "800" numbers) and FAX numbers are provided. There are chapters on "Arts & Crafts for Science," "Construction Toys & Models," "Books - Reference & Children's Books," "Science Kits," "Toys that Teach Science," and six others.

Nuclear Power: Villain or Victim? Our Most Misunderstood Source of Electricity, Max W. Carbon, Pebble Beach Publishers, Madison, WI, 1997. 100pp.,

It is amazing how in 100 pages the author has included so much valuable information about nuclear power. While aimed at the general public, physicists and especially physics teachers not connected with nuclear power will also find this little book an excellent resource. There are 12 chapters. The first four answer questions about the importance of nuclear power, what the source of the energy is, what constitutes a nuclear reactor and what a nuclear power plant is. The next four deal with perceived problem areas: radiation and health effects, plant safety, high-level wastes, and the diversion of nuclear materials. Chapter 9 discusses more advanced reactors. Chapter 10 deals with costs and the last two chapters talk about the promises of nuclear power and what we can do.

The only error worth noting is the statement that neutrons neither attract each other nor do they attract protons. They certainly do. In many instances I would have preferred "mass" to "weight."

Integrated throughout are the results of studies that do not reach the newspapers or tv and suggestions as to why the general public has such a fear of radiation. The author consistently places numbers in perspective, e.g., the worst case scenario from Chernobyl is that 24,000 people will die (often quoted in newspapers and on tv) in the next 50 years as a result of the "accident." Within the same population one could expect 600,000,000 "natural" cancer deaths. In fact, if the linear, no-threshold theory is wrong as suggested by many studies, the doses of radiation received by most people will result in no harm and may even be beneficial. The safety of nuclear power is phenomenal when compared to the hundreds of thousands that have died from hydroelectric dam failures, coal mining operations, air pollution, natural gas explosions, oil refinery accidents, and so on.