Robotics!: With 25 Science Projects for Kids - Hardcover

Van Vleet, Carmella

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 161930810X ISBN 13: 9781619308107

Publisher: Nomad Press, 2019

Synopsis

Where was the last time you saw a robot? Did you read about one in a book or see one in a movie? Maybe you saw one in a video game!

Some people think robots exist only in our imagination, but actually, robots are all around us right now. Robotics! With 25 Science Projects for Kids offers readers ages 7 to 10 an introduction to the history, mechanics, and future use of robots! Readers explore the history of robotics and discover how the first types looked and moved and what people expected they could do. Compare these early robots to those we have today, some of which don’t even have bodies! Kids discover how robots have changed as decades have passed and see how they now look, think, sense, move, and do things.

Robotics! also discusses all the amazing things robots do for us―help us around the house, go into and explore dangerous situations, build our cars and other products, assist during surgeries, and protect and entertain us. Learn all about early robots such as Unimate and Elmer and Elsie, and compare them to modern-day robots Robonaut 2 and ASIMO.

Robotics! includes 25 science-minded activities to engage budding scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and artists and help answer the questions, what exactly is a robot and where do they come from? Kids also discover how technology such as computers and other electronics of the last 50 or so years played an important role in the development of modern-day robotics. Requiring little adult supervision and using common, easy-to-find (and often recycled!) materials, kids experiment, play games, and explore components of robotics. They also build a variety of things such as their own automaton, a robot hand, and a replica of Robonaut 2. Combining hands-on fun with interesting facts, cartoons, and sidebars, Robotics provides young readers with a fun introduction to this fascinating and important field.

Robotics! is part of a set of two Explore Technology books that introduce young digital natives to the history, science, and engineering of the tech world in which we live, using hands-on STEM activities, essential questions, links to online primary sources and real-life connections. The other title in this series is Simple Machines!

Nomad Press books integrate content with participation. Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, and STEM Education all place project-based learning as key building blocks in education. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates learning and makes it active and alive. Nomad’s unique approach simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers.

About this title

About the Author

Carmella Van Vleet is a former elementary school teacher and the award-winning author of more than a dozen books for kids, including Aviation: Cool Women Who Fly;Explore Electricity!;Great Ancient Egypt Projects You Can Build Yourself, from Nomad Press and To The Stars! The First American Woman to Walk in Space (co-authored with astronaut Kathy Sullivan). She lives near Columbus, Ohio. Tom Casteel is an illustrator and cartoonist that graduated from the Center for Cartoon Studies in 2011. He has illustrated more than two dozen books for Nomad Press. He lives in South Bend, Indiana, with his family.

Review

Praise for Carmella Van Vleet for Explore Electricity!

National Science Teachers Association Recommends

“Explore Electricity is written for an elementary age level, but middle school students would enjoy learning about historical background on electricity while completing the electricity projects. The contents of this book will captivate students with the electrifying topics. This book is a well-written resource for classroom teachers, students, and parents.”

School Library Connection
"This title could easily be a textbook in beginning robotics classes. . . Each chapter poses an essential question that is repeated at the end of the book. There are many resources dispersed throughout the text. All new vocabulary words are printed in color and defined on the same page in a text box. Those same definitions are found in the lengthy glossary at the end of the book. Another boon is the QR code in each chapter that takes the reader to videos illustrating the concepts being discussed. Photographs illuminate the history of computing and robotics. Drawings are used to not only explain concepts, but also to show how projects will ultimately look and work. In addition to multiple ideas for projects available at the end of each chapter, there are games, journal ideas, flowcharts to help with planning, information about coding, and even jokes. All these "extras" will keep young readers interested and involved in the book. This is an excellent addition to any library serving elementary to middle grade students. Recommended."

Edition details

• Publisher: Nomad Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 161930810X
• ISBN 13: 9781619308107
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 96
• Illustrator: Casteel Tom