annieb123's Review of Leonardo's Science Workshop (Leonardo's Workshop)

by Heidi Olinger

Leonardo’s Science Workshop leads children on an interactive adventure through key science concepts by following the multidisciplinary approach of the Renaissance period polymath Leonardo da Vinci: experimenting, creating projects, and exploring how art intersects with science and nature. Photos of Leonardo’s own notebooks, paintings, and drawings provide visual inspiration.

More than 500 years ago, Leonardo knew that the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) are all connected. The insatiably curious Leonardo examined not just the outer appearance of his art subjects, but the science that explained them. He began his studies as a painter, but his curiosity, diligence, and genius made him also a master sculptor, architect, designer, scientist, engineer, and inventor. The Leonardo’s Workshop series shares this spirit of multidisciplinary inquiry with children through accessible, engaging explanations and hands-on learning.

This fascinating book harnesses children’s innate curiosity to explore some of Leonardo’s favorite subjects, including flight, motion, technology design, perspective, and astronomy. After each topic is explained with concepts from physics, chemistry, math, and engineering, kids can experience the principles first-hand with step-by-step STEAM projects. They will explore:

The physics of flight by observing birds and experimenting with paper airplane designs
The science of motion by building a windup dragonfly
Gravitational acceleration with water balloons
The movement of electrons by making cereal “dance”
Technology design by making paper and fabric using recycled material
Scientific perspective by drawing a 3D illusion

Insight from other great thinkers—such as Galileo Galilei, James Clerk Maxwell, and Sir Isaac Newton—are woven into the lessons throughout.

Introduce vital STEAM skills through visually rich, hands-on learning with Leonardo’s Science Workshop.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

I have been talking about STE(A)M education and books since the very earliest days of my blog. It's vitally important to expose kids to the concepts as soon as possible. They're the ones who are going to be making our future. They're the innovators, creators, inventors, discoverers of tomorrow's world. The more our kids are engaging with the world around them, the better. Critical thinking skills are more vitally important now than ever before. We're bombarded with messaging and media spin from the moment we're born and learning to differentiate the truth is a vital survival skill. That's where STE(A)M comes in. Finding fun ways to keep their interest alive is key.

Leonardo's Science Workshop is a new project book by Heidi Olinger. Released 1st Jan 2019 by Quarto on their Rockport imprint, it's 144 pages and available in flexibound and ebook formats. It's visually very appealing and includes good clear photography and layout. The book begins with a short introduction/bio of Leonardo's life and prodigious creative genius.

The chapters are built up around experimentation and observation. There's a pretty good description of the scientific method aimed at middle-readers in the introduction. The first chapter is about fluid dynamics and includes 6 age-appropriate projects. Each of the tutorials is well photographed and includes clear instructions.

The air chapter is followed by a chapter on kinetics/physics of motion. This chapter, too, explains basic concepts and includes projects (experiments) to illustrate them. The third chapter is all about energy and includes some nice projects on the electromagnetic spectrum, static electricity, building a wind turbine, etc.

All in all, these are age appropriate, interesting, well written, and safe. The layout is appealing and accessible. It would be a good addition to a classroom module for physics for middle grades. It would also make a good gift for a physics interested young person. It might be a little too straightforward and rigid to interest kids who are already wrongly convinced physics isn't cool or fun.

We need more critical thinkers and anything that fires up the next generation's STEAMers is great!

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Leonardo's Science Workshop (Leonardo's Workshop)

by Heidi Olinger

Reviewed by annieb123 on Jan 17, 2019

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