Let S Play Science

Fun, easy experiments that help children ages 5-8 grasp science basics--effortlessly: that’s what Let’s Play Science is all about. Written by an expert who teaches at one of America’s most highly regarded schools, it will grab kids’ attention and provide a firm foundation for future learning. Mary Stetten Carson knows what her audience likes and how they absorb information: she covers such popular topics as growing things, the human body, magnets, machines, water, and more. Each activity is explained in the simplest language, often with questions that gently guide youngsters through the scientific process. Among the entertaining experiments: playing a "touch game” with different objects; making a rainbow in a glass; and constructing a coat hanger balance.

Provides step-by-step instructions for simple science experiments dealing with plants, four of the five senses, light, magnetism, and insects.

Can you catch a ball? What else can you do with a ball? There are lots of different kinds of balls. What games can we play with balls? What do you like to do with a ball?

A wonderful new dot-play adventure from the much-loved internationally bestselling creator of Press Hereand Mix it Up!.

What’s a mad scientist? He/she is an individual who does not give up until all questions are answered. You want your child to have the same passion for learning and one of nurturing that is through hands-on experimentation. Experiments involve your child so learning is acquired first-hand. Can your child do all the projects in this science book? Find out today!

How a popular entertainment genre on YouTube—Let's Play videos created by Minecraft players—offers opportunities for children to learn from their peers. Every day millions of children around the world watch video gameplay on YouTube in the form of a popular entertainment genre known as Let's Play videos. These videos, which present a player's gameplay and commentary, offer children opportunities for interaction and learning not available in traditional television viewing or solo video gameplay. In this book, Michael Dezuanni examines why Let's Play videos are so appealing to children, looking in particular at videos of Minecraft gameplay. He finds that a significant aspect of the popularity of these videos is the opportunity for knowledge and skill exchange. Focusing on Let's Play practices, the videos themselves, and fans' responses, Dezuanni argues that learning takes place through what he terms peer pedagogy—a type of nonhierarchical learning that is grounded in the personal relationships fans and players feel toward one another. Moreover, the Let's Play platform is part of a larger digital ecosystem that enables children to learn from one another in unique ways. Dezuanni explores how Let's Players enable learning opportunities, examining digital literacies, the Let's Play genre, and peer pedagogies. He then presents case studies of three successful family-friendly Let's Players of Minecraft: Stampylonghead, StacyPlays, and KarinaOMG, microcelebrities in a microindustry. Dezuanni analyzes the specific practices and characteristics of these players, paying particular attention to how they create opportunities for peer pedagogies to emerge.

This book does not tell a story. Instead, it is about stories. Or rather, in technical terms, it is about scenarios. Scenarios of system behavior. It con centrates on reactive systems, be they software or hardware, or combined computer-embedded systems, including distributed and real-time systems. We propose a different way to program such systems, centered on inter object scenario-based behavior. The book describes a language, two tech niques, and a supporting tool. The language is a rather broad extension of live sequence charts (LSCs), the original version of which was proposed in 1998 by W. Damm and the first-listed author of this book. The first of the two techniques, called play-in, is a convenient way to 'play in' scenario based behavior directly from the system's graphical user interface (QUI). The second technique, play-out, makes it possible to execute, or 'play out', the behavior on the QUI as if it were programmed in a conventional intra object state-based fashion. All this is implemented in full in our tool, the Play-Engine. The book can be viewed as offering improvements in some ofthe phases of known system development life cycles, e.g., requirements capture and anal ysis, prototyping, and testing. However, there is a more radical way to view the book, namely, as proposing an alternative way to program reactivity, which, being based on inter-object scenarios, is a lot closer to how people think about systems and their behavior.

Baby Love and Learn shows parents how they can use daily caregiving routines such as feeding, diapering, dressing, bathing, and bedtime as opportunities for play, positive emotional attachment, and learning.