SCIENCE IS... Susan V. Bosak Revised edition. Richmond Hill (Ont.), Scholastic Canada, 1991. 515pp, paper, $29.95 ISBN 0-590-74070-9. Co-published with The Communication Project. CIP Subject Headings: Science-Experiments-Juvenile literature. Scientific recreations-Juvenile literature. Professional Reviewed by Stan R. Kozak Volume 20 Number 2 1992 March Science is..., which was originally published with the support of the Youth Science Foundation, details over five hundred pages of science activities. Intended to assist those who "are intimidated by science," it contains over forty topics organized in ten science subject categories. Each page describes one activity and included materials, procedures and background information. It is easy to use. I found very little new information in this publication. Its strength is its sheer volume of material. This is very close to "one stop shopping." There is a lot of material to work with if you are looking for science activities based on a topic included. Many of the activities,are not what you think of as science. This is okay, since much that takes place in our elementary classrooms is not identified as science and kids therefore think they are not getting much of the subject. I looked at the range of activities included for the topics of senses and chemical reactions as if I were preparing a unit of study. Senses activities tallied sixteen and gave a good mix that teachers would find easy to use. Chemical reactions included twenty activities; however, together they presented a piece-meal view lacking unity. This book is best thought of as a comprehensive list of ingredients. It takes a skilled teacher to put them together to make a recipe that will work in the classroom. The activities themselves are really demonstrations as opposed to experiments leading children to question. The resource list detailing science publications for elementary school children is extensive. Science is... will quickly provide a number of science activities to add to an integrated unit of study or be useful when teachers are planning to present an in-depth science topic. It is a resource to which most elementary teachers should have access. Stan R. Kozak, Guelph, Ont.

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