Eric Yoder is a writer and editor who has been published in a variety of magazines, newspapers, newsletters and online publications on science, government, law, business, sports and other topics. He has contributed to or edited numerous books, mainly in the areas of employee benefits and financial planning. A reporter at The Washington Post who also does freelance writing and editing, he was a member of the Advisory Committee for Science, Naturally's 101 Things Everyone Should Know About Science. The three books in his "One Minute Mysteries" series have won numerous awards and received acclaim from mathematicians, scientists, and educators. He and his wife Patti have two daughters, Natalie and Valerie. Eric can be reached at Eric@ScienceNaturally.com. Natalie Yoder is a college student whose favorite subjects include psychology, science, and photography. A sports enthusiast, she participates in gymnastics, field hockey, diving, soccer, and track. She also enjoys writing, being with friends and family, and listening to music. She has been interviewed several times, along with her father, on National Public Radio to talk about their work on their One Minute Mysteries series. The three books in the series have one numerous awards and received acclaim from mathematicians, scientists, and educators. She looks forward to writing more books. She is thinking about careers in oceanography or photography. Natalie can be reached at Natalie@ScienceNaturally.com. Nadia Bercovich was born in San Juan, Argentina. When she was 13 years old, she moved to the U.S. with her family. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Nadia speaks Spanish, English, Italian and Hebrew and has worked as a translator for the past 5 years. She especially enjoyed working on this book because she loves inspiring kids to learn more about science. In addition to using her language skills, she spends her free time rock climbing, painting, and backpacking. Nadia can be reached at Nadia@ScienceNaturally.com.
"A wonderful resource to introduce real-life math problems to
students...provides insights into how math can be applied in the
real world. Intriguing, useful, and challenging!" Un magnifico
recurso para introducir a los estudiantes problemas de matemáticas
de la vida real... provee ideas sobre como las Matemáticas pueden
ser aplicadas en el mundo real. Interesante, útil, y
desafiante!--Jennifer G. Martin, NCTM, Mathematics Teaching in
Middle School
"I wish this book had existed while I was still teaching. This is
one of the few books that allows readers to grasp difficult math
concepts and learn another language. It is an enjoyable and
enlightening read. I highly recommend it!" Ojalá este libro hubiera
existido mientras yo estaba enseñando. Éste es uno de los pocos
libros que le permite a los lectores entender conceptos matemáticos
difíciles y aprender otro idioma. Es una lectura entretenida e
iluminadora. Lo recomiendo encarecidamente.--José N. Pecina, Ph.D.,
Retired Mathematics Professor, The University of Texas
Pan-American
Gr 3-6--In the tradition of Encyclopedia Brown and "Solve Them
Yourself" mysteries comes this STEM-friendly book filled with very
short science-based mysteries. Each of the stories presents a "how"
or "why" question that can be resolved through the application of
scientific principles. The short, breezy, and fun entries range in
topic from the colors of the rainbow to how to tell if eggs are
fresh or hard-boiled. The authors give each tale a familiar and
realistic setting--home, school--so that young readers will have an
easier time grasping the concepts, which include general, physical,
life, and earth science, with a bonus section on math. Each tale is
presented in English, with the Spanish translation on the opposite
page. At the bottom of each page is a reminder to think/piensa
before turning the page to read the solution. The bilingual
solutions are also on facing pages. Photos are sprinkled
throughout, and a bilingual glossary is also included. VERDICT In a
STEM-conscious curriculum environment, this book is a boon for
teachers, who can use it to create interest in the subject
matter.--Tim Wadham, Children's Literature Consultant, WA "School
Library Journal, September 26, 2016"
If you have children who like science, or conversely, you're trying
to encourage a little more interest in this area, I suggest you
look into More Short Mysteries You Solve with Science! For children
that like mysteries, logic problems or riddles, this book might
make science even more appealing. Written by a father and daughter
team as part of the One Minute Mysteries series, this book aims to
show the real-life applications of science and how it surrounds us
as part of our everyday life. The book is divided into 45 short
stories, across five sections. There are ten stories each in Life
Science, Earth and Space Science, Physical and Chemical Science,
and General Science. The remaining five stories are part of the
Mathematics Bonus Section. All of the stories basically follow the
same format. Each story usually involves a few people having a
discussion, and they often encounter a problem, or someone doesn't
understand how their friend or family member reached a certain
conclusion. The answer to the problem is always based in simple
scientific truth. The stories are only one page in length, with the
facing page in Spanish. The following page spread includes the
answer, also with English on the left, Spanish on the right. The
answers are usually a short paragraph or two that still continues
the dialogue between the original characters. There are small black
and white photographs on the answer pages that are relevant to the
mystery. This book is excellent for helping children see how
science really is part of their life all day, every day. The
Mathematics Bonus Section also gives a sneak-peak into how the
similarly titled math books can offer the same experience with
mathematical concepts. The fact that it is bilingual makes it
useful for second language learners and for using in bilingual
homes, schools, co-ops or tutoring environments. More Short
Mysteries You Solve with Science! is recommended for ages 8-12, and
I find this accurate. My 9 year old is usually quick to reach the
correct answers, but my 7 year old has reached the correct answer
first too, and they both enjoy the stories. The short nature of the
stories makes this a great book for my family. As homeschoolers,
it's always so hard to "fit it all in" when there are so many
excellent books and programs out there. Now I can add in a little
extra science throughout the week without it actually feeling like
work. We read a couple stories at lunch, or before bedtime, and the
kids excitedly yell out the answers. If they don't know the answer
right away, I'll re-read the passage, asking them to listen for
clues to the specific question. It's still a quick and painless way
to spend a few minutes together, thinking about the world around
us. Product review by Brittney Rutherford, The Old Schoolhouse
Magazine, LLC, October, 2016--Brittney Rutherford "The Old
Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, October, 2016"
New for Pre-Teens: Bilingual edition of One Minute Mysteries You
Solve with Science! Got a minute? Washington DC based publisher
Science, Naturally has released a powerful new educational tool
that encourages kids to solve science brainteasers in two
languages. One Minute Mysteries: More Short Mysteries You Solve
with Science! Misterios de un minuto: ¡Más Misterios Cortos que
Resuelves con Ciencias! was created to grow reading, reasoning, and
language skills using a science mystery that takes just one minute
to read. Each mystery challenges a student's knowledge in
essential, age-appropriate, scientific topics in Biology,
Chemistry, Physics, Earth, Space, and General Science. Kids in
grades 4-8 will be entertained and educated at the same time! The
father and daughter team, Eric Yoder and Natalie Yoder, wrote each
story working together, side by side. Eric started giving Natalie
stories when she was eight years old, with the hope of spurring her
interest in science and emphasizing its real-life applications in
daily life. It worked. And it can work for your kids, too! Natalie
shared that they had a really weird technique they used whenever
they got stuck looking for a new idea. "We stared at a dead spider
on the ceiling above my dad's desk for hours and hours." The
result? They ended up with dozens of mystery stories--and three
award-winning books! Here's a sampling from a chapter titled, Shoo
Fly, Don't Bother Me. Get the e-Book here!-- "Latin Times, October
8, 2016"
One Minute Mysteries: More Short Mysteries You Solve with Science!
/ Misterios de un minuto: ¡Más misterios cortos que resuelves con
ciencias! author: Eric Yoder author: Natalie Yoder translator:
Esteban Bachelet Science, Naturally! (2016) grades 4-8 This fourth
in the One Minute Mysteries series, and the first in both Spanish
and English, contains most of the short mysteries found in the
previous three English editions. The project began, as the foreword
describes, as a series of father-and-daughter activities in which
Eric wrote, Natalie rolled her eyes, Natalie wrote, and the two
wrote side by side. Eric's vision was "to emphasize (science's)
widespread, real-life applications," and Natalie's was "to (keep)
the behavior and dialogue of the characters authentic." Natalie
writes that their technique involved, in part, "(staring) at a dead
spider on the ceiling above my dad's desk for hours and hours."
This approach apparently worked--very well. For youngsters, these
challenging problems open up both discoveries and potential for
curious, inquisitive minds. And that these 45 pint-sized
"mysteries"--covering Life Science, Earth and Space Science,
Physical and Chemical Science, General Science, and including a
Mathematics Bonus Section--are both encountered and solved by
children themselves make this volume both fun and accessible. Among
my favorite brain-teasers is "And They Call This a Fair / Feria de
cuadritos," in which Kendall and Ruby construct a game for the
science fair, in which they lay out 20 cardboard rectangles
measuring 2" x 3" each. The problem is to arrange the rectangles in
a way that will cover the most area. (This one stumped me for a
minute, until I figured out that "area" does not necessarily mean
"contiguous area.") But my hands-down favorite is "Think Outside
the Box / Piensa fuera de la caja," in which Axel has forgotten
that his science project--"to construct and label a model
representing either a plant or animal cell, describing the
functions of at least four parts of the cell"--is due in ten
minutes! And all he has is pizza scraps and an almost-empty pizza
box! Can he do it? Of course he can! (Although this kind of
construction is not easily replicable--you'd need to have the right
kind of pizza, eat almost all of it, leave the correct scraps and
use every second of your ten minutes--it's a hoot!) The book design
is clear and the text is readable, without illustrations or clues
to detract from each "mystery." The problems are presented in
English on the left and Spanish on the right and generally headed
by puns in each language to grab attention. The
images--black-and-white photos and drawings--are appropriately
reserved for the "solution" pages: those on each two-page spread
are related to each other so young readers can intuit more than one
connection between image and solution. While it's obvious that the
authors used great care in choosing the photos of both children and
adults who represent a diversity of age, ethnicity and gender, I
would like to have seen representation of children and adults with
disabilities and the spectrum of family configurations as well.
Bachelet's colloquial Spanish translation reads well, and this
layout of the mysteries and solutions enable English-speakers,
hablantes, and bilingual students to work in the language in which
they're most proficient, and look to the other side for
corresponding words, phrases, and particular idioms that interest
them. Engaging and fun for both science- and math nerds (and their
parents, if permitted), as well as youngsters who could benefit
from some time away from video games, One Minute Mysteries: More
Short Mysteries You Solve with Science! / ¡Más misterios cortos que
resuelves con ciencias! is highly recommended. --Beverly Slapin
(published 10/25/16)--Beverly Slapin, education activist, author,
and co-founder and former executive director of Oyate "De Colores:
The Raza Experience in Books for Children, October 25, 2016"
What if My Bilingual Kid is Losing Literacy? One teacher discovers
a math & science book that improves Spanish literacy while
providing a fun learning opportunity for bilingual families. During
my years teaching English as a new language (ENL), I've noticed as
Spanish speakers learn a new language at school, they are losing
the literacy of their native language. Because of this, I often
look for opportunities and products that will encourage
simultaneous language development in English and additional
languages. My search lead me to this book filled with 1-page
science and math mysteries in both English and Spanish languages. A
Book That Bilingual Families Can Learn Together With Educents
Seller Science, Naturally has just published a new Math & Science
Mystery Word Problem Book for Bilingual Learners. This book is a
great bilingual support text for students who are new to English
but are literate in Spanish, or who are literate in English and
want to learn academic vocabulary in Spanish. This book is also
ideal for parental involvement. It's an ideal text for parents to
read with their children at home to stimulate academic
conversations in Spanish or even to independently study. My
students and I enjoyed reading the short stories, and the content
provided us with some interesting discussion points. One of my
favorite moments working with this book was when one of my students
misunderstood the passage about plant and animal cells. When she
read the Spanish version of the story, she encountered a new phrase
"modelos celulares." She came away confused because she thought it
"was about cell phones." In this moment, I realized the value of
intentionally teaching my students about words with multiple
meanings in their own languages! Because most English learners
receive academic and technical instruction in English only, they
are likely to be confused when presented with such vocabulary in
their native language. About the Books Each story in the book is
presented in English and Spanish (with each language on a facing
layout) and includes a question or situation to resolve. The
stories are real-life situations that students often encounter, and
each story proposes a scientific "problem." After each story, the
following two-page layout includes a suggested resolution or
explanation in English and Spanish. One of our favorite parts of
this book is the opportunity to "think" through the answers before
the text reveals them. Each page is marked with a stop sign labeled
"Think" or "Piense" before turning the page for the resolution.
This is a great visual reminder to pause and contemplate before
reading on. What my students and I love about this book: Easy to
Use - Facing pages of English and Spanish make comparing vocabulary
side-by-side very easy for students and parents. Visual Elements -
The diagrams and pictures included with the stories help clarify
important concepts and details. Science Stories - Both girls
enjoyed reading realistic fiction about a subject that is usually
very technical. Easy to Tackle - The targeted reading level for
this book was great! They both agreed it was a challenging read,
but not too hard. As a teacher, I really love this book, and I'm
eager for additional copies and/or languages and hopefully some
differentiated editions to be released. I think these books will be
a great way to bridge the home-school connection and to strengthen
the ties between my students' native languages and their new
language!--Erika Bell, K-12 ESL Teacher, Educents Blogger "Educents
Blog, August 23, 2016"
WASHINGTON, DC -- It's a typical situation. A mother has to run an
errand and leaves a note for her kids telling them to help
themselves to lunch. There are eggs in the refrigerator, it says;
but, some are hard-boiled and others are raw...and they look the
same. How can the kids tell which is which without cracking them
open? The students in the fifth grade science class at Mundo Verde
Bilingual Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. have to think
scientifically to solve the mystery. Samadhi says she had to try
more than one idea to differentiate between the eggs. "It was kind
of difficult, but it was fun too," she explains. "You get to do
things yourself. You need to try new things, you don't have to do
what the teacher tells you. You get to try stuff that you think
might work for what you're doing." Samadhi discovered that spinning
the eggs solved the mystery. Raw eggs spin more slowly than
hard-boiled ones because the liquid inside slows them down. Think,
solve and learn This puzzler - The Eggcellent Idea - is one of 65
in the "One Minute Mysteries" educational series. Each mystery
takes about a minute and half to read and requires students to
solve it using their math and science knowledge. Mundo Verde
teacher Karen Geating Rivera notes that the series was created by
Eric and Natalie Yoder, a father-daughter pair. "And when they were
first written, the daughter was still a middle schooler. So it's
not just written for children, but it was actually written in part
by the child herself." "Every single mystery is written with
characters that are children, and children that are facing real
world situation that they need to solve using their background
knowledge on math and science," she explains. "So they're not
expected to have a bunch of formulas in their head that they
already know. It's just things that happen every day and that you
just think from a scientific or mathematical perspective to
resolve." WATCH: Video report on project: http:
//www.voanews.com/a/minute-mysteries/3628608.html 'Minute
Mysteries' Help Kids Solve Math, Science Problems 0:03:12
0:00:00/0:03:12 Science teacher David Levin says the mysteries get
the children excited. "If they enjoy what they're doing, they will
learn. That's my philosophy. I like having the opportunity of
having them in small groups, sharing their ideas, feeling the
experiment in their hands." Kids have also to discuss the facts
among each other before declaring the answer. Ten-year-old Dante
finds these group discussions useful. "You might come to an
agreement," he says. "You might come to disagreement. But sometimes
once you share your opinions, you can find out which one is the
right response and which one isn't." Creating learning
opportunities The latest addition to the series is bilingual:
English and Spanish. The authors are trying to provide a resource
for dual-language education, which is a growing trend in many
schools around the country, including Mundo Verde. School
instructional guide, Berenice Pernalete says having bilingual
instructions helps the students who come from different
backgrounds. "I think that for a language immersion school, one of
the things that teachers do in order to foster engagement in
students and to be really creative is that they have shared
experiences." Teacher Karen Geating Rivera says bringing the
mysteries into the classroom allows her students to develop several
skills at the same time, and learn from each other. "The kids who
don't speak Spanish at home, and who are learning Spanish as a
second or maybe a third language are able to hear the native
speakers in a natural, authentic setting and start picking up some
of that language and vice versa," she says. "The fact that they are
leaving the classroom still talking about what we've done tells me
that I really made it an authentic experience, something that they
can walk out and continue using in real life." The "One Minute
Mysteries" series, she says, is another tool to keep her students
engaged and foster their math, science and bilingual skills.--Faiza
Elmasry "Voice of America, December 9, 2016"
"As a bilingual mathematics educator, it is refreshing to discover
a resource that is both mathematically rich and of such good
quality. I appreciate the way these short stories are displayed in
both English and Spanish--it is very clear that careful attention
was paid to both the language and the mathematics. This book is an
excellent addition to any bilingual mathematics program!"--Marta
Civil, Ph.D., Roy F. Graesser Chair, Department of Mathematics,
University of Arizona
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