A Project Guide to Light and Optics

November 1, 2011

Gr 3-6-Although these books contain a wealth of information, the presentation is not likely to attract any but the most serious science devotees. The writing is dry, with fact following fact, and difficult vocabulary, such as "hypothesis," is left unexplained. The majority of the multi-step (sometimes as many as 12) projects necessitate adult supervision and require items such as tuning forks, bulb and battery holders, etc., that would have to be acquired from science supply stores. Also, the children in the photos often appear to be considerably younger than the intended audience. This incongruity is illogical as the complex concepts would be over the heads of the children depicted and seeing younger experimenters in the images might be off putting to older readers. All the titles except Matter have a list of websites for science supply companies.

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