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Chronicles of the Wandering Star (Interactions in Physical Science)
Chronicles of the Wandering Star - Interactions in Physical Science Author:Kelly McCullough, Carlos Lopez (Illustrator) Series of short stories written as part of a middle school science curriculum for the Constructing Ideas in Physical Science (CIPS) project. The InterActions Project commissioned a professional science fiction author to write stories that go along with the InterActions curriculum. This is an optional, separate reader that provides the... more » opportunity to meet some literacy education standards.
In these captivating stories a multi-generation alien spaceship named The Wandering Star visits the Earth and is stranded on Earth by a foldspace accident. The main characters are four young aliens, Kinet, Stas, Modulas, and Teract, from very different species. In the process of repairing the ship, they learn about the planet and its inhabitants as well as about fundamentals of physical science. The entertaining, age-appropriate stories are woven around the concepts that are developed in the course. Each chapter of the reader reinforces the concepts developed in a specific set of activities. The stories are meant to entertain, but also to explore scientific reasoning and physical phenomena including force and motion, light and color, conservation of mass and energy, small particle theory of matter, and molecular chemistry.
Contents: the main characters: Kinet, from Anima: Kinet compares human models of friction to the interaction between the splintership and the walls of Wandering Star's launch bay after a problematic launch. ie: In unit 3, students learn how to describe mechanical interactions in terms of forces, and develop ideas that lead to Newton's First and Second Laws of Motion. The unit employs appealing contexts such as skateboarding, bike riding, and playing soccer to discuss these ideas. Then students learn about gravitational interactions and circular motion. They end the unit by explaining phenomena like satellite orbits and terminal speed; Stas, from Ectovoria; Modulas, from Structares; Teract, from Sircos.« less