The Science Reflector - NCSTA Newsletter

The following book reviews were written by NCSTA members and teachers. We hope to make this an ongoing feature in The Science Reflector. If you are an author who has a book you would like reviewed or a teacher who would like to write a review, please contact Beth Harris.

Exploring the Geology of the Carolinas: A Field Guide to Favorite Places from Chimney Rock to Charleston by Kevin G. Stewart and Mary-Russell Robertson, The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, 298 pp., 2007 ISBN978-0-8078-3077

If you enjoy visiting unique places you will love this book by Kevin Stewart and Mary-Russell Robertson. The authors begin with an introduction to geology written in a conversational style and designed for readers who have little or no background in the subject.

Beginning with a discussion of constructive and destructive forces which shape the surface of our planet, they move quickly to a description of the mountain, piedmont, and coastal provinces of the Carolinas. The second chapter explains how to look at rocks and decode the story told by them in individual outcrops. Stewart and Robertson then explain the theory of plate tectonics and, in the process, tell the reader how scientists piece evidence together to build the theories which explain what they see as the study the earth's surface.

Models of scale are used in chapter four to help readers understand geologic time and relate the great span of earth history to more understandable concepts of travel and distance. The fifth chapter carries the reader through a condensed geologic history of the Appalachians. Of necessity, reader who are new to geology will find this chapter rather complicated. Our area's geologic historic history is long and complicated, but the authors have done a remarkable job of telling the story in a manner that is both readable and understandable.

The major portion of the book consists of a series of 36 field site descriptions. Each site's story is told in narrative form, describing the location's place in geologic time and the processes resulting in its present appearance. The locations are scattered across the Blue Ridge, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain of both North and South Carolina. Mountain localities include Chimney Rock, Dupont State Forest, Whiteside Mountain, Grandfather Mountain, Linville Falls, Mount Mitchell, Stone Mountain State Park, Woodall Shoals, Caesars Head State Park, and Table Rock State Park. Piedmont localities include South Mountains State Park, Crowders mountain State Park, Reed Gold Mine, Pilot Mountain State Park, Morrow Mountain State Park, Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, the Durham Museum of Life and Science, Penny's Bend on the Eno River, Landsford Canal State Park, Raven Rock State park, Medock Mountain State Park, and Forty Acre Rock. On the Coastal Plain one discussion follows the Roanoke River from the mountains to the sea. Other sites include Sugarloaf Mountain in Sand Hills State Forest, Cliffs of the Neuse State park, Santee State park, Jones Lake State Park, Flanner Beach, Jockey's Ridge State Park, Oregon Inlet, Carolina beach State Park, and Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is also included as a locality. The description of this site includes a discussion of meteorites and the museum's gem and mineral collection. Only a brief mention is made of the museum's fossil collection and geology exhibits.

Fred Beyer
Retired Science Educator

Eight Essentials of Inquiry-Based Science, K-8 by Elizabeth Hammerman, published by Corwin Press, 2005,184 pp. ISBN 1412914981 or 978-1412914987

As promised in its Preface, this book truly does “offer a practical, user-friendly approach to learning about the important components of science education upon which national and state standards are based”. The 8 Essentials could be used very effectively with pre-service K-8 science teachers or K-8 in-service teachers who have forgotten what science teaching should be all about! This book could also be used with a science teacher who operates as the “sage-on-the- stage” rather than the “guide-on-the-side”. This book, by itself, may not reach teachers who ask students to copy volumes of definitions in their notes or those who expect their student’s notebooks to consist mainly of the notes that they have copied from “the board”. Eight Essentials of Inquiry-Based Science is a book that suggests using the methods and procedures described in the book over a period of time that is long enough for teachers to discuss what that have read, tried it in their classrooms and discuss the results with fellow teachers.

Throughout the book, and especially in the Introduction, the author makes the case for why we should teach students through inquiry-based science activities that match the standards that we aim to have them achieve. Use of the “essentials” and the outlined suggestions is backed by current research from leaders in the field of science education. Inquiry-based science education is fully described as rationale for this type of instruction is built.

On a first glance at this book, a science educator may say, “Oh yes, I knew that the essentials of good science include understanding of basic concepts, development of process and thinking skills, experiences that provide students with opportunities to understand their world, and understanding of the way that science, technology and society are linked. Most would agree that these are essential, but Elizabeth Hammerman also says that it is important to use science to enhance reading and writing skills, while learning science in diverse ways to meet the learners’ style. An “essential” that is often left out of science education “how-to” books is the author’s last “Essential”, that of providing students with ways to show what they know and are able to do.

A real strength of this book is the way that the author describes methods of inquiry and lesson plan development, such as the 5-E Lesson or learning cycle approach, and then she merges this with the 8 Essentials and she also provides many examples of activities and sets of lessons that carefully follow the methods that were outlined in the chapters. Excellent examples of activities are given for both lower and upper levels of elementary school science as well as middle school.

For each of the 8 Essentials, the author makes a strong enough case that any conscientious elementary science teacher would feel guilty for leaving out even one in her science lessons.

She gives many doable ways to use inquiry science to strengthen reading and writing and never comes close to suggesting that teachers should ask their students to out their science book at 2:30 pm and read about science.

As a bonus, the author provides the reader with a comprehensive outline for using students notebooks in conjunction with inquiry-based science activities and she includes two example science units that model all 8 of the essentials. Although the reader is given many methods for assessing student learning as well as relevant examples of each method, the novice science teacher might want more examples of questions to ask for assessing true understanding of specific science concepts. The 8 Essentials of Inquiry-Based Science could serve as a valuable resource for classroom use in elementary science methods courses across the country.