Build the Eiffel Tower

Build the Eiffel Tower

Built in 1889 for the World Exposition, the Eiffel Tower honored the French Revolution. It also showcased national engineering and design expertise to an audience of global visitors. Originally intended as a temporary monument, it remains one of the world’s most visited landmarks. The structure of the tower itself is actually quite simple! To understand how its rivets and beams join, build a model of your own.
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Magnetic Field Viewer

Magnetic Field Viewer

From Electricity

You can see magnetic fields in action with this easy-to-make viewer.

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Build a Craft Stick Catapult

Build a Craft Stick Catapult

From Engines!

Ancient armies used catapults in battle. But the catapult has been used as recently as World War I. In that war, soldiers used catapults to toss hand grenades at the enemy. Today, catapults are used to launch planes off the decks of huge ships called aircraft carriers. Because the runway is short on an aircraft carrier, the catapult helps get the plane into the air quickly. Try making your own!

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Eat a Water Molecule

Eat a Water Molecule

From Chemical Reactions!

We now know what the formula for water looks like. What does an actual molecule of water look like? How can we see something that small? Powerful X-ray machinery allows scientists to predict how the atoms in a molecule look. Let’s build a model so we can see, too.

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The STEM in Your Closet

The STEM in Your Closet

From The Science of Fashion

Have you ever really thought about what kind of science, engineering, and technology actually go into making your clothes? Now is your chance! The zipper on your jacket was at one time an engineering miracle. The shirt that has built-in protection from the sun’s ultraviolet rays is a scientific innovation that helps to keep you healthy. There is a world of science and engineering in your closet. Just open the door.

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Reviews

Finalist for the 2021 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in the Hands-on Science Book category!

Science
"Knutson’s book brims with sidebars on topics ranging from the structure of the atom to the bicycling craze of the 1890s."

School Library Connection
“This splendid title not only highlights important moments in Marie Curie's life but also provides a compendium covering the history, scientific advancements, and the changemakers of her time. Every STEM teacher and school librarian should absolutely add this title to their collections.”

A Mighty Girl
"With this book from the Build It Yourself series, kids will use materials they can easily find at home to do everything from building a 3D model of the periodic table to calculating the half life of candies. It's an enthralling way to learn more about Curie — and to spark an interest in chemistry and physics."

PSLA Literature Review
“Knutson’s book on Marie Curie showcases Curie’s intelligence and scientific contributions, while encouraging readers to try their own scientific experiments. . . . an engaging look at Marie Curie’s life and scientific work.”

Julie Des Jardins, historian of American women and gender
The Science and Technology of Marie Curie provides young readers with far more than the standard details of a scientist’s discoveries. Readers will come to understand the scientific, social, political, and cultural context in which Marie Curie became a scientific thinker, a reluctant celebrity, and a woman devoted to humanity, motherhood, and ‘science for science’s sake.’”

Detailed Book Description

Finalist for the 2021 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in the Hands-on Science Book category!

Who gets to do science? During a time when most people would answer, “Men,” Marie Curie followed her passion for science and earned two Nobel Prizes!

In The Science and Technology of Marie Curie, readers ages 9 through 12 explore Curie’s groundbreaking scientific research in physics and chemistry and discover how this research forced people to rethink the very structure of their surrounding world . . . and the role of women within it. Her commitment to understanding that which the human eye could not see led to the discovery of two new elements—polonium and radium—and to the birth of a new field of research in radioactivity. In the process, she became the first woman to earn a Nobel Prize and the only person ever to win two Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields, all as she reset ideas around women’s roles in society.

Through hands-on STEM activities, essential questions, text-to-world connections, and links to online resources, kids zoom in for a closer look into Curie’s world.

 

Try these hands-on chemistry projects!

  • Design a 3-D model of the periodic table
  • Model the structure of an atom
  • Extract minerals from breakfast cereal
  • Build a spectroscope to observe the spectrum of light
Available In:
Hardcover, $22.95
9781647410193
Paperback, $17.95
9781647410223
Includes: Table of Contents | Timeline | Charts | Glossary | Resources | Index | Metric Conversions Chart
Specs: 8 x 10 size | 4-color interior | 128 pages
Subject: Science

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Timeline

Introduction
Meet Marie Curie

Chapter 1
The Making of a Mind

Chapter 2
Discovering Radioactivity

Chapter 3
No Small Task

Chapter 4
Radium Craze!

Chapter 5
Helping and Healing

Chapter 6
Global Celebrity

Chapter 7
After Life

Glossary • Metric Conversions
Resources • Selected Bibliography
Essential Questions • Index