Chock-full of peculiar puzzles, mind-bending mythbusters, and quirky questions, the fifth pop science book in the bestselling Science of Why series is perfect for anyone curious about the weird and wondrous world we live in. Have you ever wondered if octopuses are from outer space? What Mexican jumping beans are? Or if banana peels are really slippery? If questions like these are keeping you up at night, you can rest easy. Bestselling author Jay Ingram is here to answer all the whimsical and whacky wonderings that have baffled people since the dawn of time. From our bodies to our pets (and other beasts) to the natural world around us, Jay tackles science topics big and small, such as: Did dinosaurs sit on their eggs? What is our funny bone? Is there a specific muscle that makes dogs cute? Because who hasn’t pondered whether plants have feelings? Or if Robin Hood was a real person? Or what humans will look like in the future? Teeming with amusing answers to bemusing questions—and handy and hilarious illustrations—this latest volume separates fact from fiction, lesson from legend, and myth from marvel. Endlessly illuminating and entertaining, The Science of Why, Volume 5 is five times the fun for new and old readers of the series.

"An illustrated, popular science reader for any age."--

With the view that children are capable young scientists, authors encourage science teaching in ways that nurture students' curiosity about how the natural world works including research-based approaches to support all K-5 children constructing scientific explanations via talk and writing. Grounded in NSF-funded research, this book/DVD provides K-5 teachers with a framework for explanation (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) that they can use to organize everything from planning to instructional strategies and from scaffolds to assessment. Because the framework addresses not only having students learn scientific explanations but also construct them from evidence and evaluate them, it is considered to build upon the new NRC framework for K-12 science education, the national standards, and reform documents in science education, as well as national standards in literacy around argumentation and persuasion, including the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010).The chapters guide teachers step by step through presenting the framework for students, identifying opportunities to incorporate scientific explanation into lessons, providing curricular scaffolds (that fade over time) to support all students including ELLs and students with special needs, developing scientific explanation assessment tasks, and using the information from assessment tasks to inform instruction.

The Galactic Human Empire was built atop four sciences: logic, physics, psychology, and sociology. Standing on those pillars, humans spent 100,000 years spreading out into the galaxy: warring, exploring, partying -- the usual. Then there was the fifth science. And that killed the empire stone dead. The Fifth Science is a collection of 12 stories, beginning at the start of the Galactic Human Empire and following right through to its final days. We'll see some untypical things along the way, meet some untypical folk: galactic lighthouses from the distant future, alien tombs from the distant past, murderers, emperors, archaeologists and drunks; mad mathematicians attempting to wake the universe itself up.And when humans have fallen back into savagery, when the secrets of space folding and perfect wisdom are forgotten, we'll attend the empire's deathbed, hold its hand as it goes. Unfortunately that may well only be the beginning.

Science: A Four Thousand Year History rewrites science's past. Instead of focussing on difficult experiments and abstract theories, Patricia Fara shows how science has always belonged to the practical world of war, politics, and business. Rather than glorifying scientists as idealized heroes, she tells true stories about real people - men (and some women) who needed to earn their living, who made mistakes, and who trampled down their rivals in their quest for success. Fara sweeps through the centuries, from ancient Babylon right up to the latest hi-tech experiments in genetics and particle physics, illuminating the financial interests, imperial ambitions, and publishing enterprises that have made science the powerful global phenomenon that it is today. She also ranges internationally, illustrating the importance of scientific projects based around the world, from China to the Islamic empire, as well as the more familiar tale of science in Europe, from Copernicus to Charles Darwin and beyond. Above all, this four thousand year history challenges scientific supremacy, arguing controversially that science is successful not because it is always right - but because people have said that it is right.

Connect students with science using Scientific Method Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide for Middle-School Students. This 80-page book promotes scientific literacy by teaching the scientific method and enables students to become problem solvers in everyday life. This helpful classroom supplement includes laboratory investigations in physical, life, earth, and space science. It also includes a section on creating, exhibiting, and presenting a science fair project. The book allows for differentiated instruction and supports National Science Education Standards and NCTM standards.