Tomecek, Steve

Highlights different man-made materials, their properties, and their uses, including plumbing materials, construction materials, food packaging materials, and cookware materials.

Describes how rocks and minerals are formed by geological processes, and how they are used in our lives.

Brief text explores how soil is formed, its layers, and its importance as a natural resource that living things need to survive.

Contains twenty-five standards-based activities designed to teach students in grades four to eight key concepts in physical, Earth, and life science, featuring lessons in static attraction, the force of atmospheric pressure, the germination rates of different seeds, and similar topics.

Targeted to rock-crazy kids, this bold book is more energetic, more visually exciting, and more fun than enything else on the market--and with more information, too! -- publisher.

Presents instructions for ten classroom activities for grades 3-6 that teach about electricity with such simple objects as balloons and paper clips.

A humorously illustrated guide to rocks and minerals, with a look at how they have been put to use. Includes an activity.

Profiles forty-five historic and prehistoric inventions, explaining how they work and describing their origins and impact. Includes such developments as the hand ax, the axle, writing, money, the clock, anesthesia, and the nuclear reactor.

An introduction to the variety of the rocks and minerals of our planet, and the ways people have transformed these resources into usable materials.