6/27/01
BOOK TEACHES CHILDREN 'SOILS MAGIC' THROUGH EXPERIMENTS
AUBURN -- A new book by an Auburn University faculty member seeks to help students from elementary school through college learn about science and engineering literally from the ground up.
The American Society of Civil Engineers has published the book, Soils Magic, written by David J. Elton, an associate professor of civil engineering.
Elton said the slender volume was written to make science and its application through engineering more interesting to students in elementary school, high school and college. The book describes a variety of experiments for students to perform as they learn the connection between theory and applied science.
"The experiments are, for the most part, a delight to perform, since student reaction is often so vivid," Elton said.
The experiments focus on principles of soil mechanics and were originally intended for university civil engineering students.
"After performing them, it became obvious that the nature of the experiments makes them interesting and informative for anyone interested in science, from the age of 10," he recalled.
"These demonstrations are useful to elementary school, high school and college teachers who wish to entice students to learn more about science, and especially about soil mechanics," said Elton. "Some of the experiments are so fascinating and mysterious that even the most casehardened, anti-science student is bound to be captivated."
Elton uses the term soil mechanics to define the science and people, usually engineers, who use soils to build dams, roads, building foundations, walls and many other structures.
The most engaging experiments are presented first, suitable for anyone to do or watch. Less amazing and interesting experiments, suitable for anyone to do but not so interesting to watch, are followed by interesting, but more difficult-to-understand-experiments that require some thought to understand yet illustrate clearly some important principles of soil mechanics.
Almost all the experiments are done with inexpensive, readily available materials. Only a few require significant expense, Elton noted.
These experiments began with the author's experience in college teaching. In 1997, Elton was invited to perform some of the experiments for professional colleagues at a Geo-Institute meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Geo-Institute then asked for publication of the experiments in the present volume.
The book -- stock number 40568 -- is available by phone through the ASCE at 1- 800-548-2723. It will be available soon through the ASCE web site .
jun01: AU-eltonbk
CONTACT: Elton, 334/844-6285. --- Web Links: AU Civil Engineering: