Katie Coppens – författare

Acadia Greene wants answers. What happened to the frogs she used to see at her favorite local pond? Why do leaves change color in the fall, and why don’t evergreen needles do the same? What is the water cycle, and what is transpiration? How do time zones work, and why does the sun set at different times in different places within a single zone? How do germs infect us? Acadia doesn’t mean to do science, but she has questions and her parents refuse to simply give her the answers. “Conduct an experiment,” they tell her. “Use the scientific method.” So Acadia makes hypotheses, designs experiments, analyzes data, and draws conclusions. Acadia does science.The author, Katie Coppens writes a recurring column for NSTA's middle school magazine Science Scope on science and literacy called "The Integrated Classroom."

Now she’s leading a campaign to clean up a local pond; figuring out why leaves change color; learning about time zones and germs; and discovering why we might all be drinking dinosaur pee. “Conduct an experiment,” her parents tell her whenever she has a new mystery to solve. “Use the scientific method.” So Acadia does science. And so can you.

A melting snowman leads her—of course!—to explore climate change and how to reduce her carbon footprint. The helium balloons at her eleventh birthday party beg questions—naturally!—of molecular structure, weights of gases,and neutral buoyancy. An afternoon making paper airplanes brings discoveries in aerodynamics. Tracks in the snow raise questions of how animals survive the winter. And an afternoon of sledding slides right into an investigation of momentum, acceleration, and friction. Acadia doesn’t mean to do science—it just happens. She’s curious, determined, bold, and bright—a wonderful STEAM ambassador!The Acadia Files is a fun introduction to the wonders of science,using real-world scenarios to make scientific inquiry relatable and understandable. Parents and educators can use The Acadia Files to let kids discover for themselves what it’s like to be curious about the world and to satisfy that curiosity with scientific thinking.

Is a melting snowman a sign of climate change? Can she reduce her carbon footprint? What is buoyancy? Paper airplanes, animal tracks, and a morning of sledding get her thinking about aerodynamics, winter survival, and friction. “Conduct an experiment,” her parents tell her whenever she has a new question. “Use the scientific method.” So Acadia does science. And so can you.

Acadia Greene has done science in summer, autumn, and winter. In the fourth and final book of this series, she carries her search for answers into the spring, investigating meteors and mass extinctions; germination and pollinators; parasites, ticks, and Lyme disease; and pesticides and malaria. Finally, looking back through her notebooks, she puts together her scientific inquiries from all four seasons into a holistic understanding of the natural world. Acadia is curious, determined, bold, and bright—a wonderful STEAM ambassador!Lexile 750