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Ask a Science Teacher: 250 Answers to Questions You've Always Had About How Everyday Stuff Really Works
Fun and fascinating science is everywhere, and it’s a cinch to learn—just ask a science teacher!
We’ve all grown so used to living in a world filled with wonders that we sometimes forget to wonder about What creates the wind? Do fish sleep? Why do we blink? These are common phenomena, but it’s a rare person who really knows the answers—do you?
All too often, the explanations remain shrouded in mystery—or behind a haze of technical language. For those of us who should have raised our hands in science class but didn’t, Larry Scheckel comes to the rescue. An award-winning science teacher and longtime columnist for his local newspaper, Scheckel is a master explainer with a trove of knowledge. Just ask the students and devoted readers who have spent years trying to stump him!
In Ask a Science Teacher , Scheckel collects 250 of his favorite Q&As. Like the best teachers, he writes so that kids can understand, but he doesn’t water things down— he’ll satisfy even the most inquisitive minds. Topics •The Human Body
•Earth Science
•Astronomy
•Chemistry Physics
•Technology
•Zoology
•Music and conundrums that don’t fit into any category
With refreshingly uncomplicated explanations, Ask a Science Teacher is sure to resolve the everyday mysteries you’ve always wondered about. You’ll learn how planes really fly, why the Earth is round, how microwaves heat food, and much more—before you know it, all your friends will be asking you!
We’ve all grown so used to living in a world filled with wonders that we sometimes forget to wonder about What creates the wind? Do fish sleep? Why do we blink? These are common phenomena, but it’s a rare person who really knows the answers—do you?
All too often, the explanations remain shrouded in mystery—or behind a haze of technical language. For those of us who should have raised our hands in science class but didn’t, Larry Scheckel comes to the rescue. An award-winning science teacher and longtime columnist for his local newspaper, Scheckel is a master explainer with a trove of knowledge. Just ask the students and devoted readers who have spent years trying to stump him!
In Ask a Science Teacher , Scheckel collects 250 of his favorite Q&As. Like the best teachers, he writes so that kids can understand, but he doesn’t water things down— he’ll satisfy even the most inquisitive minds. Topics •The Human Body
•Earth Science
•Astronomy
•Chemistry Physics
•Technology
•Zoology
•Music and conundrums that don’t fit into any category
With refreshingly uncomplicated explanations, Ask a Science Teacher is sure to resolve the everyday mysteries you’ve always wondered about. You’ll learn how planes really fly, why the Earth is round, how microwaves heat food, and much more—before you know it, all your friends will be asking you!
368 pages, Paperback
First published August 12, 2011
245 people are currently reading
733 people want to read
About the author
Larry Scheckel
12 books6 followersLarry Scheckel grew up on a family farm in the hill country of southwestern Wisconsin, one of nine children. He attended eight years of a one room country school, four years of high school, off to the military for a spell, trained in electronics as a TV broadcast engineer, married, college, and started a teaching career. That career stretched over thirty-eight years teaching physics and aerospace science to over four thousand high school students at Tomah, Wisconsin.
Larry has been named Tomah Teacher of the Year three times, and Presidential Awardee at the state level for six years. He is the recipient of the Tandy Award, Kohl Award, Wisconsin Physics Teacher Award, Health Physics Society Award, Ron Gibbs Award, and Excellence in Science Teaching Award. He has authored articles for The Science Teacher magazine and The Physics Teacher magazine. He has been a Science Olympiad coach, robotics mentor, organized field trip and star gazing sessions, and gave orientation flights to students.
Larry has shared his expertise with teachers at National Science Teacher Association conventions, Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers, and summer workshops. He has given presentations to thousands of adults and students in such venues as Children's Museums, Boys and Girls Clubs, Rotary, and conventions.
Larry likes to bicycle in the Driftless area of south central Wisconsin, jog on the back roads, fly a Cessna 150 over the verdant countryside, work crossword puzzles, read newspapers, historical books, and trade magazines, and fly radio controlled planes. He and wife, Ann, retired teachers, have written nine books and live in Tomah, Wisconsin.
Larry has been named Tomah Teacher of the Year three times, and Presidential Awardee at the state level for six years. He is the recipient of the Tandy Award, Kohl Award, Wisconsin Physics Teacher Award, Health Physics Society Award, Ron Gibbs Award, and Excellence in Science Teaching Award. He has authored articles for The Science Teacher magazine and The Physics Teacher magazine. He has been a Science Olympiad coach, robotics mentor, organized field trip and star gazing sessions, and gave orientation flights to students.
Larry has shared his expertise with teachers at National Science Teacher Association conventions, Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers, and summer workshops. He has given presentations to thousands of adults and students in such venues as Children's Museums, Boys and Girls Clubs, Rotary, and conventions.
Larry likes to bicycle in the Driftless area of south central Wisconsin, jog on the back roads, fly a Cessna 150 over the verdant countryside, work crossword puzzles, read newspapers, historical books, and trade magazines, and fly radio controlled planes. He and wife, Ann, retired teachers, have written nine books and live in Tomah, Wisconsin.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
January 30, 2020
I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be for kids but I actually did really enjoy it too, it covered a wide variety of topics, some of which I knew about already but it was accessible and succinct. I think it would be good for someone who doesn't know much about science because it really covers mostly really basic things in my opinion but like if you have a solid foundation of science knowledge you might not get anything new out of this.
April 11, 2014
Larry Scheckel took the knowledge of his 30+ years of teaching and presenting about science gave him, came up with 250 questions related in some fashion to science (for example "How Legos stick together?" or "Why tennis balls are fuzzy?") and distilled his answers into this book. Ask a Science Teacher would be a great book to give a elementary/middles school student to stimulate ideas for science fairs or just keep in the bathroom for light reading and relaxing. The major problem I have with this book (and others of its ilk) is that no sources are provided for confirmation and further exploration. But if you want quick answers and your question is listed, enjoy!
December 9, 2020
I usually like these types of books, but this was very poorly written and rarely cited any sources to explore further.
July 13, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. There were different sections so that you could flip to one you liked or read the book all the way through. Some of the more complicated concepts - like how the puddle of water on the road illusion works - had diagrams, making it much easier to understand. I didn't know pretty much anything about the answers to most of the questions, and the ones I did know something about went into enough detail that they were interesting to read. Scheckel went very in-depth as for his answers, but you still understood what he was saying. There is some more advanced vocabulary, but nothing that the average person wouldn't be able to handle.
Almost every topic also had a bit of extra information with it. This is probably partially due to the fact that the Q&A's were taken from Scheckel's newspaper column, so they all had to be within a certain length. At first I found this a little annoying, but I grew used to it and began to enjoy the extra info.
It was definitely worth the read - there was a lot of information that was easy to handle and fun to learn.
Almost every topic also had a bit of extra information with it. This is probably partially due to the fact that the Q&A's were taken from Scheckel's newspaper column, so they all had to be within a certain length. At first I found this a little annoying, but I grew used to it and began to enjoy the extra info.
It was definitely worth the read - there was a lot of information that was easy to handle and fun to learn.
May 21, 2016
I don't know how accurate the answers are but the questions were intriguing. It made me go look up more info about some things. It's an easy read and a book you don't have to read cover to cover. Skip around and find the topics that interest you. But at least read all the questions....even if you don't read the answers. The questions lead you to ask more questions!
November 18, 2013
Easy to understand with lots of interesting information. Can easily be read in the presented order or skipped to whatever subject is needed. Great for those looking for easy explanations or just want to brush up on their science knowledge.
ARC from Netgalley
ARC from Netgalley
December 4, 2021
This book is so great. It grabs you from the beginning. Questions with straight forward easy to understand answers. Definitely a fantastic read.
January 1, 2019
Ask a Science Teacher is a book by Larry Scheckel. The book contains 250 questions and the answers to those questions. Not all questions can be answered, but this book answering 250 is a good place to start. Honestly, I know a lot of the answers to these questions, but having them phrased by someone else makes it quite effective.
Scheckel writes in a friendly, conversational style. Sometimes the answers go beyond what the questioner asks, but it is interesting to see where it goes. For instance, you might be familiar with the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean. It is the deepest part of the ocean floor at approximately 35,756 ft or 10898.429 m beneath the ocean surface. It talks about how we know about that value and at the same time adds some interesting trivia. For example, did you know that a person that went down to that depth took a watch with him that was on the arm of the submersible, and it was still operating throughout the dive?
Some of the questions are interesting since I never thought to ask them. For example, one of the questions is “Why does the Earth have Gravity?” This leads Scheckel into a tangent that explores Isaac Newton’s formulation of Gravity and some bits and pieces that talk about Einstein’s Field Equations of Gravity. I mean, I know Gravity is just a thing that objects with mass will have. Even two bricks hanging from ropes will attract each other in a manner that is observable. Perhaps when I was a child I asked such questions but that was a while ago.
The book is separated into 11 Chapters. All of the questions are interesting ones, but some of them are just off-kilter to me. Some of them I just being dismissed as stupid out of hand, and that probably isn’t a good thing. When I was a child, I was told that there is no such thing as a stupid question, and I should keep that in mind even when I am looking at a question that discusses whether Telepathy is real or not. My immediate reflexive response is no. Telepathy does not exist. If any of that stuff existed it wouldn’t be on the fringe of science.
In any case, there are occasional illustrations along with the text to show what is being said in a different way. It shows a cross-section of the human throat to show the epiglottis and how it protects your lungs when you eat or drink.
This book is really well done. Along with a lot of simple questions, there are questions that get surprisingly deep. I really enjoyed it and would love to refer back to it again.
Scheckel writes in a friendly, conversational style. Sometimes the answers go beyond what the questioner asks, but it is interesting to see where it goes. For instance, you might be familiar with the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean. It is the deepest part of the ocean floor at approximately 35,756 ft or 10898.429 m beneath the ocean surface. It talks about how we know about that value and at the same time adds some interesting trivia. For example, did you know that a person that went down to that depth took a watch with him that was on the arm of the submersible, and it was still operating throughout the dive?
Some of the questions are interesting since I never thought to ask them. For example, one of the questions is “Why does the Earth have Gravity?” This leads Scheckel into a tangent that explores Isaac Newton’s formulation of Gravity and some bits and pieces that talk about Einstein’s Field Equations of Gravity. I mean, I know Gravity is just a thing that objects with mass will have. Even two bricks hanging from ropes will attract each other in a manner that is observable. Perhaps when I was a child I asked such questions but that was a while ago.
The book is separated into 11 Chapters. All of the questions are interesting ones, but some of them are just off-kilter to me. Some of them I just being dismissed as stupid out of hand, and that probably isn’t a good thing. When I was a child, I was told that there is no such thing as a stupid question, and I should keep that in mind even when I am looking at a question that discusses whether Telepathy is real or not. My immediate reflexive response is no. Telepathy does not exist. If any of that stuff existed it wouldn’t be on the fringe of science.
In any case, there are occasional illustrations along with the text to show what is being said in a different way. It shows a cross-section of the human throat to show the epiglottis and how it protects your lungs when you eat or drink.
This book is really well done. Along with a lot of simple questions, there are questions that get surprisingly deep. I really enjoyed it and would love to refer back to it again.
July 1, 2024
There were a couple of typos and incorrect details, like chemical symbols, numbers and small facts like carbon producing water when burnt (should've been hydrocarbon) or "more positively charged hydrogen attracting the more positively charged hydrogen" for ice structure. Should've been negative oxygen.
Otherwise, an alright book for older teens and adults.
Lack of diagrams make it a bit unfriendly for younger teens in my perspective, unless they're highly scientific minded because some of the descriptions were not easily imaginable without a diagram. Had to look up a few pictures just to understand what the author was saying.
Few parts were getting slightly outdated, but nothing to make this book outdated for probably another decade.
Oh, I did want to mention that at times the author seems to go into a tangent and answer a similar question, but not necessarily the original question. There were a couple in the biology section from memory, which makes sense since the author is apparently a physics teacher.
Otherwise, an alright book for older teens and adults.
Lack of diagrams make it a bit unfriendly for younger teens in my perspective, unless they're highly scientific minded because some of the descriptions were not easily imaginable without a diagram. Had to look up a few pictures just to understand what the author was saying.
Few parts were getting slightly outdated, but nothing to make this book outdated for probably another decade.
Oh, I did want to mention that at times the author seems to go into a tangent and answer a similar question, but not necessarily the original question. There were a couple in the biology section from memory, which makes sense since the author is apparently a physics teacher.
January 9, 2022
Meh
I've recently read another reference book. I believe I had gotten this one while planning school lessons.. It is a good book to have kids turn to when they seem an infinite well of questions if you then discuss the ideas with them.
It is lacking evidence, sources, bibliography... anything other than name dropping a couple of friends or colleagues in the acknowledgements.
I found many basic concepts over-explained, and then complex issues glossed over. There were also repeated topics, from how we see colour, radiation, radiowaves, lightning, lift, density, sound and a couple more that don't come to mind now.
I did not like this one.
I've recently read another reference book. I believe I had gotten this one while planning school lessons.. It is a good book to have kids turn to when they seem an infinite well of questions if you then discuss the ideas with them.
It is lacking evidence, sources, bibliography... anything other than name dropping a couple of friends or colleagues in the acknowledgements.
I found many basic concepts over-explained, and then complex issues glossed over. There were also repeated topics, from how we see colour, radiation, radiowaves, lightning, lift, density, sound and a couple more that don't come to mind now.
I did not like this one.
February 18, 2021
Not too bad, some of it was a bit repetitive at times (really how many times must you say that the mnemonic to remember the colors of light is ROY G BIV?) It seems at times that this is a complication of articles from another source, possibly a newspaper. Which is fine, but it would be nice if that was mentioned somewhere. Some of the answers are also starting to become a bit dated as science does change, but the basics are still good.
July 19, 2021
The information is not bad, but there is a lot of filler. Taken from a paper's science column, the question usually gets answered, but then filled in with extraneous things about movies or dad jokes or opinions on one concept being among God's greatest gifts to humans. It's never that witty or profound, so even though you can learn things it gets tiresome in a way that it would not when the columns are days apart in the local paper.
August 6, 2022
A science teacher answers 250 questions, posed by his students, on all kinds of different scientific topics. I read the book in little bursts when I only had a minute or two to read and I wanted something quick. While I can't say I absorbed all of the details, I got the general idea about a lot of varied topics ranging from things like the function of the human body to why dogs drool. I thought this was a fun book written in an easy to read style.
December 2, 2019
Excellent book
As a retired chemist, I found the book to be technically correct. As a full-time nerd, I found a lot of fascinating stuff I did not know, clearly and interestingly explained. It was a fun read.
As a retired chemist, I found the book to be technically correct. As a full-time nerd, I found a lot of fascinating stuff I did not know, clearly and interestingly explained. It was a fun read.
May 4, 2017
This would have been much better if I were either younger or read fewer in-depth science books. Still, for a really top-level, basic overview of a lot of science topics it's good.
August 15, 2017
Though I didn't agree with everything stated and there were a few grammatical errors, this book filled me with scientific curiosity and the desire to learn more.
April 2, 2021
كتاب رائع لتبسيط العلوم للاطفال والمراهقين
May 20, 2022
Fun and informative, this volume answers a lot of questions asked by children. I don't know what it says about my level of maturity, but I found them fascinating.
December 30, 2022
This is my favorite book to read to go to sleep. It’s informative, but the prose is so bland that it’s never going to grip me and make me want to read more (keeping me awake). I can read it for five or ten minutes and just drift to sleep.
The book is definitely informative. I don’t want to sound critical of it, it’s just fact after fact with little embellishment. That’s fine. I learn things from it when I read. It makes me realize where my shortcomings are in scientific understanding (the weather, physics). It’s just such plain, factual writing that it’s somehow soothing and sleepy. It’s more warmly written than a textbook, but about as exciting.
The book is definitely informative. I don’t want to sound critical of it, it’s just fact after fact with little embellishment. That’s fine. I learn things from it when I read. It makes me realize where my shortcomings are in scientific understanding (the weather, physics). It’s just such plain, factual writing that it’s somehow soothing and sleepy. It’s more warmly written than a textbook, but about as exciting.
November 18, 2013
I receive the free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for some for an honest review.
Ask a science teacher was packed with informational questions that many students ponder, what teachers are often left with not enough time to discuss in school. I really enjoyed reading this book, however I felt like some of the answers were too in depth and drawn out. The author could have done readers a favor by writing more concise responses. I often find myself losing interest in the responses as he went off on tangents.
This book would serve better as a reference book to sit down and read book.
Ask a science teacher was packed with informational questions that many students ponder, what teachers are often left with not enough time to discuss in school. I really enjoyed reading this book, however I felt like some of the answers were too in depth and drawn out. The author could have done readers a favor by writing more concise responses. I often find myself losing interest in the responses as he went off on tangents.
This book would serve better as a reference book to sit down and read book.
January 5, 2017
Gathered from a series of newspaper columns, this presents over two hundred answers to kid-submitted questions on how the universe works and how we know it. The majority of the questions are scientific in nature, with a few exceptions ("Why do people in some countries drive on the left side of the road?"). The book is a comfortable read for anyone over middle-school age, but the writing isn't so juvenile as to bother adults; the little jokes that frequently appear at the end of columns may try patience, though. I read a good bit of popular science and still learned a few things.
February 2, 2015
Ask a Science Teacher is like having a science teacher in your pocket. The questions are ones that I know I've wondered about in the past and present. Though the best part about the book is the surprise of discovering Mr. Scheckel lives in Wisconsin! Always excited to read something from a local author!
July 23, 2021
This book had a question on each page with an illustration to accompany it. There was no back matter for the reader or listener to discuss each picture with the listeners and decide. I thought it was too spare and needed more text to answer these and some back matter with ideas to present to the children listening to help them engage.
November 25, 2016
Lots of great interesting facts and stories. Hoever the author tended to put too many numbers together, and sometimes convert to metric and sometimes not, so it really did feel like a science lesson at school, rather than a relaxing read.
November 4, 2013
Good book for a young teen. Simple questions are answered with enough science to satisfy their curiosity but not overwhelm them. Vast array of questions.
September 5, 2014
This book is really very good, easy to read and explains a lot of questions we have everyday. I am very happy having found this book.
May 14, 2014
A lot of the science stuff I already knew - but still pretty interesting.
December 28, 2014
The Questions and the answers were interesting though I was forced to read this book.
March 27, 2017
Another gift from Mom. A solid collection of various science facts. However, I found some of his personal anecdotes tiresome and many of his jokes way too corny.
March 15, 2019
i love this book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews