Cooperative Collection Development -- CCD: STEM
About the STEM Collection
The materials in this collection are for everyone in New York and address the topics of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in print resources. Areas explored in this collection include, but are not limited to, environmental science, climate change, ecology, sustainability, transportation, forensics, zoology, geology, space sciences, applied mathematics, and making & tinkering. While the collection focuses on narrative non-fiction not included in a set/series published within the last 5 years, resources are available in many formats - graphic novels, biographies, and both non-fiction and fiction texts. The materials in this collection, both text and digital, are geared towards middle- and high-school students, and vary in text complexity in order to address the Common Core standards for informational resources.
How This Collection Is Used
This collection is used to compliment curriculum at our campus across grades 6 though 12. All of our campus schools have a focus on STEM/STEAM and/or exploratory learning. These resources are not limited to math and science - they can be used in all content areas and to supplement research as well as stimulate interest in diverse choice reading.
Highlighted Titles
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Dreaming in Code by ISBN: 9780763693565Publication Date: 2019-03-12This illuminating biography reveals how the daughter of Lord Byron, Britain's most infamous Romantic poet, became the world's first computer programmer. Even by 1800s standards, Ada Byron Lovelace had an unusual upbringing. Her strict mother worked hard at cultivating her own role as the long-suffering ex-wife of bad-boy poet Lord Byron while raising Ada in isolation. Tutored by the brightest minds, Ada developed a hunger for mental puzzles, mathematical conundrums, and scientific discovery that kept pace with the breathtaking advances of the industrial and social revolutions taking place in Europe. At seventeen, Ada met eccentric inventor Charles Babbage, a kindred spirit. Their ensuing collaborations resulted in ideas and concepts that presaged computer programming by almost two hundred years, and Ada Lovelace is now recognized as a pioneer and prophet of the information age. Award-winning author Emily Arnold McCully opens the window on a peculiar and singular intellect, shaped -- and hampered -- by history, social norms, and family dysfunction. The result is a portrait that is at once remarkable and fascinating, tragic and triumphant. -
We Have No Idea by ISBN: 9780735211513Publication Date: 2017-05-09Prepare to learn everything we still don't know about our strange and mysterious universe. Humanity's understanding of the physical world is full of gaps. Not tiny little gaps you can safely ignore --there are huge yawning voids in our basic notions of how the world works. PHD Comics creator Jorge Cham and particle physicist Daniel Whiteson have teamed up to explore everything we don't know about the universe: the enormous holes in our knowledge of the cosmos. Armed with their popular infographics, cartoons, and unusually entertaining and lucid explanations of science, they give us the best answers currently available for a lot of questions that are still perplexing scientists, including: * Why does the universe have a speed limit? * Why aren't we all made of antimatter? * What (or who) is attacking Earth with tiny, superfast particles? * What is dark matter, and why does it keep ignoring us? It turns out the universe is full of weird things that don't make any sense. But Cham and Whiteson make a compelling case that the questions we can't answer are as interesting as the ones we can. This fully illustrated introduction to the biggest mysteries in physics also helpfully demystifies many complicated things we do know about, from quarks and neutrinos to gravitational waves and exploding black holes. With equal doses of humor and delight, Cham and Whiteson invite us to see the universe as a possibly boundless expanse of uncharted territory that's still ours to explore. -
The Electric War by ISBN: 9781250120168Publication Date: 2019-01-22In the mid- to late-nineteenth century, a burgeoning science called electricity promised to shine new light on a rousing nation. Inventive and ambitious minds were hard at work. Soon that spark was fanned, and a fiery war was under way to be the first to light--and run--the world with electricity. Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of direct current (DC), engaged in a brutal battle with Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, the inventors of alternating current (AC). There would be no ties in this race--only a winner and a loser. The prize: a nationwide monopoly in electric current.Brimming with action, suspense, and rich historical and biographical information about these inventors, here is the rousing account of one of the world's defining scientific competitions. A Christy Ottaviano Book -
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies by ISBN: 9780544717138Publication Date: 2018-02-20Robert F. Sibert Medal winner Bugs, of all kinds, were considered to be "born of mud" and to be "beasts of the devil." Why would anyone, let alone a girl, want to study and observe them? One of the first naturalists to observe live insects directly, Maria Sibylla Merian was also one of the first to document the metamorphosis of the butterfly. In this visual nonfiction biography, richly illustrated throughout with full-color original paintings by Merian herself, the Newbery Honor-winning author Joyce Sidman paints her own picture of one of the first female entomologists and a woman who flouted convention in the pursuit of knowledge and her passion for insects. Booklist Editor's Choice Chicago Public Library Best of 2018 Kirkus Best book of 2018 2018 Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book Junior Library Guild Selection New York Public Library Top 10 Best Books of 2018 -
On the Origin of Species by ISBN: 9781481462495Publication Date: 2018-10-02Charles Darwin's groundbreaking On the Origin of Species is now available in an accessible, illustrated edition for young readers that includes an introduction, glossary, modern insight and information, and more! Charles Darwin's famous theory of natural selection shook the world of science to its core, challenging centuries of orthodox beliefs about life itself. Darwin's boundary-shattering treatise was captured in On the Origin of Species, originally published in 1859, a groundbreaking and detailed study on ecological interrelatedness, the complexity of animal and plant life, and the realities of evolution. This Young Reader's Edition makes Darwin's cornerstone of modern science accessible to readers of all ages. Meticulously curated to honor Darwin's original text, this compelling edition also provides contemporary insight, photographs, illustrations, and more. This adaptation is a must-have for any reader with a curious mind and the desire to explore one of the most influential books of our time. -
Finding Wonders by ISBN: 9781481465656Publication Date: 2016-09-20A gorgeously written novel in verse about three girls in three different time periods who grew up to become groundbreaking scientists. Maria Merian was sure that caterpillars were not wicked things born from mud, as most people of her time believed. Through careful observation she discovered the truth about metamorphosis and documented her findings in gorgeous paintings of the life cycles of insects. More than a century later, Mary Anning helped her father collect stone sea creatures from the cliffs in southwest England. To him they were merely a source of income, but to Mary they held a stronger fascination. Intrepid and patient, she eventually discovered fossils that would change people's vision of the past. Across the ocean, Maria Mitchell helped her mapmaker father in the whaling village of Nantucket. At night they explored the starry sky through his telescope. Maria longed to discover a new comet--and after years of studying the night sky, she finally did. Told in vibrant, evocative poems, this stunning novel celebrates the joy of discovery and finding wonder in the world around us.
Search the Catalog
Viewing Collections
View the COMPLETE STEM CCD collection on Destiny Discover here.
View the STEM GRAPHIC collection on Destiny Discover here.
View the STEM CLASSICS collection on Destiny Discover here.
View the STEM FICTION collection on Destiny Discover here.
View the STEM POETRY collection on Destiny Discover here.
View the STEM PICTURE BOOK collection on Destiny Discover here.
Curator
Rachel Green, Librarian
Westinghouse Campus Library
105 Tech Place
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-625-6130 x3441
E-mail: rgreen39@schools.nyc.gov
Twitter: @BklynLibrarian
Instagram: @SteamLibrarian
Web Resources
The following links tabulate award-winning and recommended informational books and were referenced to build this collection.
- NSTA Outstanding Trade Books for Students K-12
- ALA Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Award
- ALA YALSA Non-fiction Book Award
- STEM Read (exploring the science behind the fiction)
- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
- Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) Mathical Book Prize
Professional & Educational Resources
The following links provide resources for educators to extend this collection into their curriculum:
Related MyLibraryNYC Teacher Sets
Educators participating in MyLibraryNYC may borrow teacher sets to supplement their classroom curriculum. You can set up your account at https://www.mylibrarynyc.org/. The following are a FEW of the many STEM-related "Topic Sets" (1 copy of each of about 10 books) available through MyLibraryNYC.
- Science Poetry for Middle Grade (Grades 3-8)
- HIV/AIDS and Other STDs (Grades 9-12)
- The Humane Treatment of Animals (Grades 10-12)
- Introduction to Coding with Board Game (Grades 5-10)
- Women of Science (Grades 8-12)
- Career Explorations (Grades 6-12)
- Informational Texts with Playaway Audiobook (Grades 6-12)
- Architecture: A STEM Discipline (Grades 4-8)
- Scientific Advancements & Technology (Grades 4-8)
- Assorted Earth Science & Environmental Science Texts with DVDs (Grades 4-8)
- STEM Manga Guide To Series (Grades 8-12)
- Artificial Intelligence & Automation (Grades 7-12)
- Science Comic Series (Grades 4-8)
- Award Winners - YALSA Non-fiction Award (Grades 7-12)
- STEM Graphic Novels (Grades 6-8)
The following are a FEW of the "Book Club" sets (10 copies of 1 book) available at MyLibraryNYC.
- Charles & Emma by Deborah Heiligman (Grades 6-8)
- Meaning of it All - Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist by Richard P. Feynman (Grades 9+)
- Tracking Trash by Loree Griffin Burns (Grades 6-8)
- Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger (Grades 6-8)