The Acadia Files: Summer Science (Acadia Science Series, 1)

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About The Acadia Files: Summer Science

Product Description First Time in Paperback! The Acadia Files: Book One, Summer Science presents five summer stories, each one followed by Acadia’s science notebook pages with her simple explanations and lively, whimsical drawings of natural phenomena. The Acadia Files is a fun introduction to the wonders of science, using real-world scenarios to make scientific inquiry relatable and understandable. Parents and educators can use The Acadia Files to let kids discover for themselves what it’s like to be curious about the world and to satisfy that curiosity with scientific thinking.   The Acadia Files: Book One, Summer Science offers an engaging new way to apply the scientific method to real-world scenarios. Great for teaching STEAM Acadia Greene wants answers. Who keeps stealing her blueberries just as they ripen on the bushes? Why is her hair curly? Why does the sun wake her up so early in the summer? Why does the tide submerge her sandcastles? How do rocks become sand? Acadia doesn’t set out to do science, but she has these important questions and her scientist parents refuse to simply feed her the answers. “Conduct an experiment,” they tell her. “Use the scientific method.” So Acadia gathers evidence, makes hypotheses, designs experiments, uses the results to test her hypotheses, and draws conclusions. Acadia does science. The author, Katie Coppens writes a recurring column for NSTA's middle school magazine Science Scope on science and literacy called "The Integrated Classroom."   Spot color Review "Ten-year-old Acadia becomes annoyed when the blueberries she has been cultivating go missing. Her science-teacher parents encourage her to use the scientific method (termed as such in the text) to answer her questions, and assist with setting up an experiment to test her hypothesis. In later chapters, she uses this method to investigate human genetic traits, determine where sand comes from, explore why the sunrises early in summer, and learn about how tides and gravity work. E ach chapter begins with a narrative that introduces a problem and provides basic scientific background. Acadia’s lab notes for each experiment are also included: materials, procedures, data, conclusions, glossaries, and lists of “Things I Still Wonder.” Hatam’s colorful, cartoon-style illustrations are particularly evident in the lab sections, where Acadia’s notes appear in manuscript printing, along with childlike sketches. A few spot illustrations also appear at the bottom of some narrative pages. Appended with website resources for each topic, this succeeds as an introduction to scientific methods and may encourage young scientists to try their own experiments." ― Kay Weisman, Booklist Online " The Acadia Files introduces kids to science via the readily observable principles and easy-to-reproduce experiments of its precocious and endlessly curious lead character, Acadia, who’s enjoying the summer before she enters fifth grade. Both of her parents are science teachers, so learning is naturally encouraged.The book introduces important scientific information in a clear and enjoyable fashion. Each chapter highlights a new topic based on Acadia’s summer activities and what she observes. Acadia uses the scientific method to discover who is stealing her blueberries from the bushes. She learns about genetic inheritance of traits like height and curly hair.She learns how sand is formed and what creates seasons and tides. Her summer adventures will open young minds to science and how it helps to make sense of the world. Illustrations from Acadia’s scientific notebook include amusing images, notes from experiments, and summaries of what she learned. Lists of vocabulary terms and further questions are also included. Notebook pages beautifully reflect the perspective of a ten-year-old girl. They are fun and entertaining, supporting and clarifying scientific concepts. The science in the book is wonderfully presented, but there is also another layer of lessons: