Robert M. Hazen and James Trefil, Science Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1991). This is a unique source with a compelling introduction on scientific literacy. This book can be used as a primer to help you understand the most fundamental concepts the authors believe are necessary for modern science.

Stephen P. Kramer, How To Think Like a Scientist (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1987). Will it really rain if you hang a dead snake over a tree branch? Speaking to children, this book illustrates the processes of science that are used to gather reliable information. This fun book helps children to think about why scientists ask questions and how they pursue the answers to those questions.

Carol Minnick and Donna Alvermann (eds.), Science Learning Processes and Applications (Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 1991); and Karen Ostlund, Science Process Skills: Assessing Hands-On Student Performance (Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley, 1992). These are two fine sources for obtaining practical ideas to help you promote science process skills in your classroom.

The 1990 Science Report Card (or latest available version), prepared by the Educational Testing Service for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education, March 1992. The wealth of demographic and example test items contained in this source is guaranteed to expand your vision of the conditions of science education and the means to determine what youth know and can do.

Royston M. Roberts, Serendipity: Accidental Discoveries in Science (New York: Wiley, 1989). This delightful book is filled with stories about the various accidental discoveries that scientists have made over the centuries. Roberts makes a case that the mind must be "prepared" to recognize what is important in order to make the discovery.

F. James Rutherford and Andrew Ahlgren, Science

for All Americans (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). This remake of the 1989 edition from the American Association for the Advancement of Science puts the complete vision of scientific literacy in terms the lay person can fully comprehend.

Carl J. Sindermann, The Joy of Science (New York: Plenum Press, 1985). The author accumulated many case histories from scientists over the years and used them to provide an inside look at the reasons for successful careers in science.

Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin, Edison: His Life and Inventions, vols. I and II (New York: Harper & Row, 1929.) Written during Edison’s lifetime, this massive collection of information digs deeply into his life and discusses many of Edison’s inventions in detail.

Matthew Josephson, Edison (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959.) This biography written for adults captures the excitement of science and the impact of Edison’s inventions on a growing economy and an industrial society.