What Magnets Can Do

The book fosters development of processes in understand magnetism by not only posing questions students may have about what magnets can do, but then seeks to answer those questions providing examples, simple descriptions, and picture accompaniment to make meaning stick.

Author: Allan Fowler
Year Published: 1995
ISBN: 978-0516460345

Summary

"What Magnets Can Do", by Allan Fowler, is short, but informative nonfiction book that is a good entry level book giving simple descriptions of what magnets can do. The book starts off describing simple magnets, their properties (N/S poles), what kinds of metals are magnetic and also the attractive and repellent properties of magnets. It uses real world examples of magnets with things they may have seen in their everyday life, such as explaining how some types of cranes use electromagnets to move things. At the end there is a vocabulary list for students to reference if they get stuck on some of the more challenging words.

Evaluation

Appropriateness: High
Authority: Medium
Accuracy: High
Liteary Artistry: Medium
Appearance: Medium

Questions

Does the book foster development of processes?

Does the book provide an opportunity for children to ask and answer their own questions?

While the book has questions to guide the reader along and transition into the topics the questions answer, it does leave room for students to ask their own questions. Such as in the case of when it introduces the topic of an electromagnet. Although it gives a definition and examples of electromagnet, it doesn't necessarily explain how running electricity through metal makes it an electromagnet, or what the function of electromagnets in VCRs, telephones, stereos etc, are.

Does the book encourage children to think for themselves?

For most of the book it poses a question then answers it with a simple description and example. Thus, it can be determined that it doesn't explicitly promote children to think for themselves. However, due to the fact that the answers to the questions are so simple, and not that detailed their is room for children to come up with questions on their own. That said it is very linear and gives clear-cut answers to the questions it poses.

Is the science topic addressed in ways that are appropriate to the lesson?

This book addresses the topic of magnetism that is appropriate to the lesson. This based on the fact that it uses vocabulary, language and pictures that match. At one part of the book where it presents a sample experiment, students would've had to have used the knowledge from the pages leading up to the experiment to be able to comprehend and understand what is going on, as well as come up with questions and inferences for what exactly is happening in the experiment.

Is the content based on sound scientific principles? Is it accurate?

The content in this book is based on sound scientific principles. It presents everything as facts, as it should, due it being a purely expository text. While the descriptions are not in very rich detail, the book does a good job of explaining the general idea and having a scientifically accurate, yet simple explanation for all of the things magnets can do.

Does the book distinguish between fact and fiction?

This book is purely a nonfiction, or expository text. It doesn't have any fictitious content from start to finish. It poses questions about magnets, and answers them with facts that are accompanied by photographs of the content it is describing. By using real world examples, and even experiments one can replicate on their own, it establishes that it is purely nonfiction, and nothing about the content is fantasized.

Are the illustrations clear and accurate?

Rather than having illustrations, the book has photographs to accompany the text. The photographs are crisp, clear, vibrant and accurate when relating to the word content that it shares the page with.

Is the book written at the level of your students?

This book is written at the level of my students. It uses simple, easy to understand language for 1st-3rd grade students in its description, but also challenges them with vocabulary that can be referenced in the back of the book, in the glossary section.

Is there a multicultural component? Is it free from stereotyping?

There is not a multicultural component in this book. It simply seeks to ask questions and then answer questions about magnets and what it can do. In this case, I suppose because it presents only facts, and does not have a multicultural component, in an odd way, it is free from stereotyping.

Is the book free from gender bias?

This book is free from gender bias. As stated before, it poses questions, and then presents the answers in an easy-to-read, clear-cut description. There is no evidence of it suggesting that one gender may like, be better suited, or whatever to use or understand magnets.

Does the book show the close association between science and other disciplines?

The book does show the close association between science and other disciplines, but it is quite weak. It purely focuses on the properties of magnets and what they can do. Due to it also being quite simple in its explanations of the properties of magnets, there is not really a mathematical explanation of how magnets works as they do. However, in the sample experiment, there is some sense of association with math when the experiment revolves around collecting and analyzing data for how many paper clips will the magnet hold. There is also a literary component as it models reading strategies such as asking questions, predicting and making inferences on what one has read.

Does the book present a positive attitude toward science and technology?

This book does present a positive attitude toward science and technology. As stated previously it states everything as fact, but also encourages the reader with it's explanations to try out or observe what it is explaining. With the visual accompaniment readers may feel tempted to get out their own magnets and paper clips and while read along, do as the book is saying for a fun interactive experience.

Science Topics

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