NSTA Reviews: Innovations in Safety

'Innovations in Safety'
Crabtree Publishers have introduced a new series called 'Innovations', with six titles: 'Innovations in Everyday Technologies', 'Innovations in Safety', 'Innovations in Health', 'Innovations in Communication', 'Innovations in Transportation', and Innovations in Entertainment'.  Each book has a similar format in terms of the design, contents, index and glossary.  At the beginning is a brief introduction describing inventors, innovators, and engineers.  At the end is an explanation of the 'Engineering Dsign Process' with a challenge called 'Thing Big!'  Moreover, there is a good balance between historic inventions and 'spot lights' on young inventors and innovators.

'Innovations in Safety' by Cynthia O'Brien is a terrific vehicle for STEM instruction, especially for kids.  I love each entry in the Innovations series; 'Innovation in Health' includes loads of examples of innovations kids encounter everyday: smoke detectors (p6), fluorescent clothes (p11), modern seat belts (p14), and traffic lights (p18).  I'm confident the 'Young Inventor Spotlight' about the Hot Seat Alarm (p15) invented by Alissa Chavez will resonate with kids.  Alissa Chavez invented the alarm after hearing about children accidentally left in hot cars.  A librarian or teacher could use such a few excerpts like this one before issuing a design challenge to her students using the Engineering Design Process (p28) and a safety challenge such as 'Tripping hazard at home or school' (p29).  Likely, the kids can brainstorm existing hazards at school.  'Innovations in Safety' affords excellent opportunities to understand how STEM impacts us every day.