Customer Reviews

Physics Experiments for Children (Dover Children's Science Books)

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This small paperback is an excellent book for teaching Physics to young children. Filled with simple experiements that exemplify the principles of Physics, it is an easy guide for parents and children through the physical world. I highly recommend it as a very complete course for elementary children who are home schooled or for those who enjoy learning through experimentation.

Too often, physics students learn to rely on mathematical formulae without really understanding what is happening. Muriel Mandell's little gem offers a set of deceptively simple experiments for helping young students build basic skills and intuition which are so necessary for later studies. You'll need only household items to do all the experimentation described here. Use this book as a starting point for discussions of Newton's Laws of Motion; the relationship between pressure, temperature, and volume; states of matter; and more. Highly recommended.

I wish I hadn't bought this book. It was written in 1959 and, of course, uses 1959 household materials. When was the last time you had a glass baby bottle or even a glass soda bottle lying around? How about that screw top can of floor wax? This needs updating badly.

One of the first experiments is titled, "Which is Heavier, Hot Air or Cold?" The explanation just concludes hot air weighs less without explaining that, with applied heat, some of the warmed air expanded out of the bottle. There's less air in the bottle to weigh!

I can not recommend this book. If you use it as is, you will find yourself constantly searching for substitute materials. You will also be teaching incorrect or incomplete concepts.

This is an adequate (I hate to call it a book, it's so small) pamphlet of introductory experiments for young children. Not very exciting, but as I said, it's adequate.