Bøger af Mike Lattner

Electricity can be easy to understand - if you choose the right starting point!To make the science of electricity intuitive, you will begin with energy. From here, you can learn a fruitful model of simple electric circuits, developed from ground up. This approach is highly pictorial: you will represent electric potential (Volts) and electric current (Amps) with simple diagrams. Then you can use these diagrams to analyze electric circuits. When the time comes to introduce algebra and equations, you will already have know something about V, I, R and P from your diagrams. Parents and teachers, you get one half of the book! We provide solid pedagogical supports, recipes, and methods of presentation.Every Student Exercise has a corresponding Parent-Teacher Guide - to help you teach your own child about electricity. Using pencil-and-paper exercises, your student will develop a fruitful model of simple electric circuits. Every exercise uses meaningful and powerful diagrams that work the way that kids actually think. Because this unit involves fundamental forces and concepts, it is placed first in the series of four strands. It should be taught before chemistry.The Electricity unit is subdivided into four sections, approximately one week each.Static electricity and the electrical structure of matterCharacteristics of electric current, and development of a model of current, potential, resistance and powerMathematical treatment of series and parallel circuitsProjects that are either an application of the model or an extensions of the model.At the end of sections 1 - 3 is a thorough quiz

What is the sun doing during every day? What can you see in the sky each night? This unit is a descriptive account of the contents and history of the universe, as it is pictured by scientists over the past fifty years. You will learn how four forces shape our universe. You using your understanding of the gravitational force and the electrical force to explain the brightness and color of the stars you see. As in all of the IntuitivScience series, diagrams are the most important mode of learning. You will approach understanding of the motions of the moon by making naked-eye observations over several full lunar cycles. During that time, you can build a pinhole camera to safely observe the sun. The moons of Jupiter are an instructive model of the solar system, and you can observe them with ordinary binoculars. Parents and teachers, you get one half of the book! Each two-page student activity is accompanied by a two-page teacher / parent guide, so you can help your student proceed. The whole book is divided into four major sections, each requiring a little more than one week to complete.Construction of some simple instruments to assist in observation of the earth, the sun, the moon, and time, all from your own location.Observation of the sun, the closest star. From these observations we move to an understanding of the forces that shape our sun and its behavior.Observation of the moon, and other satellites. From these observations we build an understanding of the role of gravitation in orbital motionResearch project: Things within our solar systemResearch project: Things beyond our solar systemThis time line is divided into five separate one-week blocks. You could do them in a single five-week period. Alternatively, students could extend their observations over several months, a week at a time, while studying other subjects.

So you want to predict the weather? We can do that!We are all visual learners. So, just like all of the IntuitivScience books, you will start by learning to use simple, intuitive diagrams to represent three basic theories.You are probably already familiar with the particle theory of matter.From there, you will learn to use the concept of an air parcel, to predict and explain the behaviour of air.Finally, you will build upon these two theories together to describe common weather events.Using pictorial representations of these three theories, you will learn how to calculate atmospheric pressure, energy, temperature, mass and other quantities related to weather. As you become more adept at drawing these specialized pictures of the earth's atmosphere, you will learn how to use these theoretical descriptions to explain and predict the weather around you.For all of the labs and practical activities, you will use the PEOE (Predict, Explain, Observe, and Explain) model of science investigations. After you frame your question, you will provide your best prediction, and explain your thinking, using both sentences and diagrams. When the experiment is over, you will record your observations, and then fix your earlier explanation You will use your diagrams to interpret and predict the weather.Your knowledge and understanding will be probed in Daily Quizzes.At the end of the unit, you will be given a five day independent project to demonstrate your ability to conduct your own investigation. The quality of your arguments is the most important aspect of communication in this chapter. Your arguments must consist of sentences, organized into paragraphs, and supported by diagrams or other representations.As in all of the IntuitivScience series, diagrams are an important mode of expression. The diagrams provide the student with tools to analyze the most important forces that influence Earth's weather. Every two-page student exercise uses easy-to-learn diagrams as the building blocks of understanding.Parents and teachers, you get one half of the book! Each two-page student activity is accompanied by a two-page teacher / parent guide, that provides solid pedagogical supports, recipes, and methods of presentation.The book is subdivided into three major sections. Each section will take a little more than one week to complete.Basic structure of the atmosphere and the factors that shape it. Foremost is the particle nature of the gases that make up the atmosphere, and the forces that act upon the gases. Also included is the role of water and its changes of state in the energy economy of the atmosphere.The circulation of air parcels as they absorb and release energy from the sun. This fundamental motion is simple, but can be used to explain complex events like cloud formation, chinooks, and warm and cold fronts.The effect of the spinning of Earth upon the motion of circulating air masses. The winds that we experience are shaped more by the Coriolis effect than by thermal effects. This counter-intuitive idea is one of the more difficult ideas to learn.At the end of the formal exercises, students are invited to undertake a five day structured research project on a weather event of interest to them