Discovering STEM at the Museum

Gr 2–3—These volumes are inconsistent both in level and quality of detail. Amusement Park, for instance, identifies the physical forces in play for roller coasters and bungee jumping but not for bumper cars or the creation of cotton candy. Similarly, in Restaurant, Machajewski erroneously claims that gas bubbles "pop" to create the holes in bread, and Roby in Airport and Nagelhout in Baseball Game, without offering any further instruction, blithely urge readers to use smart phones to look up STEM facts. Each volume pairs easily digestible narratives with big, bright color photos that are strong on visual appeal. Some highlight one particular branch of science—physics in Amusement Park, paleontology in Museum—but none offer exercises, quizzes, reviews or, except for a couple of exceptions in Amusement Park, math problems. The writing is weak and imprecise. For instance, in the glossaries at the end of every volume, the term engineering is vaguely defined as "the use of science and math to improve our world."