Bending Light: An Exploratorium Toolbook : Dozens of Activities for Hands-On Learning/Book and Magnifying Lens

Offering a hands-on approach to the concepts of science, this fun-filled and informative activity book introduces young readers to the fundamental principles of light and lenses.

Experiments using simple lenses, many to be done with the small plastic lens provided. No experiment here is difficult, though adult hands may be useful in the cardboard and Jell-O (yes, Jell-O) construction activities. Explanations are at the simplest level--the word ``refraction'' never appears--and the tone is mostly Socratic. The line drawings, touched with blue, are spritely, but more are needed, especially simpler diagrams. This straightforward introduction to experimentation is an outgrowth of San Francisco's ``Exploratorium''--a museum with 600 hands-on exhibits where ``people make discoveries for themselves.'' No index or bibliography but a list of three sources for lenses. (Nonfiction. 8-11) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gr. 3-6. Readers are invited into the Exploratorium, a kind of discovery museum, where visitors are encouraged to be active participants. Some simple and not so simple experiments introduce the basic principles of light and lenses. Experiments are as elementary as making a penny appear to move around in a bowl of water or as complicated as making lenses out of Jell-O. A small plastic magnifying glass comes with the book, and some type of magnifier is needed for many of the experiments. Small two-color illustrations and diagrams are clearly drawn and serve to break up the somewhat text-filled pages. Older children experimenting on their own and younger children with adult supervision will find these experiments fun as well as educational. Denia Hester