Cool Chemistry Activities for Girls

Description

Get your science groove on, and check out these awesome chemistry projects: Fountains of flowing fun, Ooey, gooey, stress-relieving putty, Super sweet candy necklaces. Chemistry is easy when you're having this much fun!

The activities are appropriate for elementary and middle school interest and include many experiments that my STEM school had already planned as part of our curriculum this year. I can't wait to see the teachers' faces when I present them with this title. We use the Science NSRC kits and the Engineering is Elementary Kits in our science integration throughout the curriculum. Some of these activities are explored in the kits, but none of them explain and extend the learning in such an exciting way as this series. . . .STEM schools will naturally want to purchase the entire set. It is essential that more school and public libraries carry titles like this.-- "Practically Paradise blog" This book is a great way to get girls interested in chemistry. . . .Highly Recommended.-- "Tucson Unified School District (Tucson, AZ)" This series is an excellent choice for fun with friends or for science experiments. The books appeal to girls with bright colored, flowery covers and pictures of girls and women. Each experiment has an introduction, a list of supplies, step-by-step directions with photos, and a follow-up paragraph explaining terms and how the experiment fits into science. While the experiments can be used by anyone, this set is most appropriate for upper elementary and lower middle level students. Recommended.-- "Library Media Connection" 2 Stars! The books, Cool Chemistry Activities for Girls and Cool Engineering Activities for Girls by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen and Heather E. Swartz, respectively, are part of the Girls Science Club set which also includes Cool Biology Activities for Girls and Cool Physics Activities for Girls. (These two titles are not part of this review.) The books are written by women scientists and are part of Capstone Publisher's Snap brand. As a science teacher and consultant, my chief role is to promote science--especially inquiry based science. My work as a consultant means interacting with private, public, and home-school teachers in a wide variety of contexts, especially during the summer. The most demanding setting every summer is science camp, which draws about 40 children who range in age from 3-12, many of whom come every year, challenging the adult volunteers to develop a new program each year. Each of these books offers some great ideas to try. Cool Chemistry Activities for Girls is spot on! Each activity is clearly explained with both step by step instructions and photo illustrations. The page layout is clean and colorful with the first activity, "Festive Fountain" immediately hooking the child into the book. The supplies are materials that are generally available--even for girls living in remote areas. At the end of each activity is a section marked "Insider Info" with clear explanations that briefly explain the underlying science. For example, the "Insider Info" on page 13 explains the nature of a surfactant as "...One end of a soap molecule dissolves in water. The other end dissolves in oils." Wheeler-Toppen, the author, consistently writes in language appropriate to a young elementary student. Her choices for the activities included are all fun; "Stress-Relieving Putty" (pp. 14-15) is a time tested polymer activity that is a guaranteed hit! Even my high school students enjoy making the putty. Our camp will definitely test "Earth-Friendly Plastic" (pp. 16-17) and the "Apple-Cinnamon Air Freshener" (pp.18-19) activities. The kids will love these! The experiments lend themselves to a home kitchen or even the kitchen of a social hall where Girl Scouts meet. The author includes a crystal project, "Sweet Jewels" (pp. 26-28) that takes a few days and might evolve into a science fair project testing the success of a variety of crystal types: sugar, alum, or Epson salts. At the end of each book are a glossary, "Read More" section, and "Internet Sites", and an index. The "Read More" guides the reader to other project books. In both books under the Internet Sites section is a link to www.facthound.com with a number to enter into the site for more references--which works! The books explain that the website, FactHound, is a safe site for kids. The FactHound site requests a child's grade before entering the code listed in the book; both age groups retrieve the same sites when the code is entered for these books. The www.capstonekids.com website is also available in each book and links to different games, crafts, recipes, etc. available to children. These two books are coming to the first planning meeting for our summer science camp before going to our school's community library. Both books are sure to be checked out often! They belong in every library and have broad appeal to teachers, elementary and middle-school aged students, Girl Scout leaders, and science camp directors. Capstone publishers have done due diligence in selecting authors to write these engaging books sure to capture the imagination of any girl. Well done!-- "Science Books & Films"