Online Discovery Electricity

by Penny Norman PhD, Ann Einstein MAT (Editor)

Overview

ScienceWiz® Electricity with Online Discovery: This children’s classic, with its touch of whimsy, should be your child’s FIRST electricity book. The Electricity kit includes a highly visual, full color, step-by-step, 40 page science book. It enables young children (5-10 year olds) to independently discover basic concepts in electricity. Materials are included except for the battery.

This Online Discovery version of Electricity includes a flip-book with embedded animations, videos, games, interactive simulations, and an online-circuit construction kit.

There are 18 projects in Electricity. These include building circuit loops to light lights, buzz buzzers and spin pinwheels. Using the motor and paper discs, children also explore spin art. They build a switch to open and close circuit loops and use the switch to send coded messages to a friend. Children also test what materials conduct electricity and what do not. Thus they learn what materials make good conductors and what make good insulators. By comparing one loop circuits to two loop circuits, they discover the differences between series and parallel circuits.

The kit includes a handle box for easy storage and transport.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781958398180
Publisher:	ScienceWiz
Publication date:	01/01/2022
Series:	Sciencewiz Online Discovery
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.50(h) x 2.50(d)
Age Range:	6 - 10 Years

About the Author

AUTHOR: Penny Norman, Ph.D. earned a doctoral degree in Biophysics from U.C. Berkeley. She became involved with the development of primary grade science materials through volunteer work, which she began as her own children started school. During this process she became deeply concerned about the limited exposure of elementary age students to the physical sciences. 

Her concern has translated into a 20 year effort to test and revamp science materials for the primary grades. Her work with children developed into a product line initially under the auspices of grants from the National Science Foundation and the Franklin Foundation. Her published titles reflect Dr. Norman’s extensive testing and involvement with children and teachers and her love and commitment to both.

EDITOR: Ann Einstein, M.A.T. from George Washington University in Washington D.C., was a teacher in the Berkeley Unified School District. She has been involved with the education of children for most of her adult career as a director of early childhood education programs, as a teacher in gifted and talented programs and most recently as an elementary education teacher. She has been an editor of the ScienceWiz™ Books since 1994 when she edited the ElectroWiz™ Electricity book.  Ann brings a clarity of mind and the capacity to see things through a child’s eyes to the editing process. 

To quote an Einstein of an earlier generation:

“We never cease to stand like curious children before the great Mystery into which we were born.” - Albert Einstein

Interviews

ScienceWiz Online Discovery Electricity is derived from my book on Electricity which was declared a children's classic by the book trade, soon after it was published. The result was that some stores have kept ScienceWiz Electricity continuously in stock.

ScienceWiz Electricity received accolades early on. One of my favorites was from a book reviewer for Scientific American. Specifically, once a year for the December issue, Phylis Morrison reviewed science titles written for children for the journal Scientific American. She did this in collaboration with her husband Philip Morrison, a professor at MIT. They awarded ScienceWiz Electricity the Scientific American Young Readers Book Award shortly after it was first published. A year or so after the award, I met Phylis at an National Science Teacher's Conference in San Francisco. She told me she had tried to write a book for children on Electricity, herself. So when she encountered my book in a store, she said that this was the book she wished she had written.

I remember one first grade boy saying to me, "THIS is my kind of book." He indicated that he was not as partial to the early readers he had at school. I think he was appreciating the feeling of independence, self-sufficiency and confidence the book and activities gave to him. Not to mention, he just liked DOING the projects, largely on his own.

Over and over, I have been told by parents whose children have played with my titles, that as their children grew to maturity, they took with them a feeling of confidence that topics in science were accessible to them. I believe this is, indeed, the case. I certainly hope so.

The online discovery version of Electricity presented here has allowed me to combine my original Electricity book for children with additional online content in a seamless integration. These includes short video clips, animations and child appropriate simulations. I believe these are worthwhile additions.

As a final note, I have put a Hybrid Learning Version of Electricity online (English and Spanish). This version can be used to teach a class online, in the classroom, in a homeschooling environment, in a pod or be used by an individual child, on their own. This type of versatile web-based instruction is called Hybrid Learning. It's format is very different from that of a book. The first three lessons are free to view on the ScienceWiz.com website, no login required. This version has additional content, including continuity testing puzzles and a simple introduction to circuit diagrams, where young children draw very simple stick diagrams of the circuits they have already built. Note, there are standard, very simple symbols for a light bulb, a buzzer, a motor, an LED, a switch and a battery. Then they solve simple circuit puzzles by reading "stick diagrams" that represent circuits related to the book. If you get a chance, let me know what you think of this version. I would love your feedback.

Editorial Reviews

"Long smoothing in the hands of many children." Phyllis Morrison, Scientific American

Author’s Comment: Many consumers have described to me how much their children cherish the Electricity kit. They even put it under their pillows. Parents say that the instructions are so clear and the materials are so well designed that children play with their circuits for weeks. One of the nicest e-mails came from a busy pediatrician who took the time to describe how much her son enjoyed the kit.

From the Publisher