Tagged Science
Delving into the Science of Me
In the midst of a heat wave, Science in the Summer continues to spark young minds! For over thirty years, the program has demystified the sciences with free, hands-on learning for students entering 2nd-6th grades, all the while…
Fly Me to the Moon: Apollo 11 at 50
Fifty years ago today, Neil Armstrong , Buzz Aldrin , and Michael Collins first set off into space to explore the surface of the Moon. Their mission, Apollo 11 , was the culmination of decades of determined research and experimentation…
Celebrating Math and Formulas in Teen Books for Pi Day!
Ah March, that most unusual of months – is it spring or winter? Will it snow one last time? Are the crocuses blooming yet to give me a glimmer of hope? One fun way to get through these last few weeks of almost spring/fourth winter…
Celebrating the Trivia Nerd in All of Us
I have a confession to make—I am that friend who always wants to get a trivia team together on a Tuesday night. I’m also that kid who read Trivial Pursuit cards for fun to see if I could guess the answers. And I ask Santa…
Science in the Summer Is Back!
Science in the Summer is returning to the Free Library of Philadelphia and we are excited about this year’s curriculum—The Science of Space. By bringing the Science of Space to elementary school children, we’re showing…
Embrace the Sacred and Interstellar Through the Art and Poetry of Stellar Masses
Yolanda Wisher is back! She left us in 2017 as the first Poet Laureate since the Free Library assumed responsibility for nurturing our city's chief word smith. On May 9, 2018 at 6:30 p.m., she's returning as curator with…
A Science Minute: 7 Female Philadelphia Scientists You've Probably Never Heard Of
Science is the star this week around Philly, with the start of the annual Philadelphia Science Festival beginning this past weekend. We thought we would delve deep into our book stacks and search out some noteworthy yet unheralded…
#GetNerdyPHL at the Philadelphia Science Festival!
In Philadelphia, April means the Philadelphia Science Festival ! The week-long festival, hosted by the Franklin Institute, includes hundreds of free and low-cost programs across the city for children, families, and adults. The Free…
Wrap Your Head Around These Books About the Brain
Three upcoming new books, coming out in three consecutive months, will focus on the subject of the workings of the human brain. Helen Thomson, a freelance science journalist, tells the stories of nine extraordinary people from…
Pi Day: Stephen Hawking Travels to Infinity
If you are reading this on March 14 at 1:59 p.m., then it must be Pi Day (Pi at 5 decimal places = 3.14159, natch!) This annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (Pi), or in its easiest understood numeric equivalent, 3.14,…
The Science of Bram Stoker's Dracula
Since Frankenstein & Dracula: Gothic Monsters, Modern Science opened on Friday the 13th of October, I’ve fielded a few questions from surprised visitors: Dracula , really? It’s not difficult to see the…
A Science Minute: The What, Where, When, Why, and How Guide to Experiencing the Solar Eclipse
Get ready for a rare celestial happening in the universe (well, at least our known universe ), as a Solar Eclipse will be taking place throughout North American on August 21. But what exactly is a solar eclipse, why is it happening, and…
Register Now for Science in the Summer
Even though school is out, we at the Free Library are committed to keeping children and teens learning all summer long. That’s why we plan the Summer of Wonder , which includes everything from LEGO building to mystery solving. But…
Science in the Summer Registration Kickoff!
Registration for Science in the Summer began this past Friday, May 5 and to celebrate, the Franklin Institute visited the Ramonita G. de Rodriguez Library and provided a fun program for the students of Kearny Elementary…
A City-wide Celebration of Science: The 2017 Philadelphia Science Festival!
The Philadelphia Science Festival is almost here! The city-wide celebration of science happens April 21-29. The Free Library is proud to partner with the festival to offer great programing for all ages! Check out all the…
A History Minute: Philadelphia's Medical Mystery
Philadelphia was the place to be in July of 1976. Even Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain came to present the Bicentennial Bell , cast in the same foundry as our Liberty Bell. The 4,000+ members of the Pennsylvania chapter of the…
Science in the Summer Arrives at Oak Lane!
By Becky Friedman and Kadafi El-Kardah Science in the Summer has begun! On June 28th and 29th, kids at the Oak Lane Library enjoyed two full days of free programming focused on science and hands-on learning. Since this year’s…
#GetNerdyPHL with the Philadelphia Science Festival This April!
The Free Library is excited to host several science-based children’s programs in 16 of its neighborhood libraries—as well as a number of kitchen-science programs at the Culinary Literacy Center at Parkway Central…
Science Leadership Student 'Maps it Out.'
Beginning in September 2015, several Science Leadership Academy high school students studying film and photography worked on their Independent Learning Project at our Parkway Central Branch. The teens took on various tasks…
Get Nerdy with Neighborhood Science After School!
What better way to celebrate science than in your own backyard? Join the Philadelphia Science Festival at several of our neighborhood libraries after school for a celebration of science exploration! Scientists, engineers, and other…
Our Five Senses: A Family Friendly, Interactive Exhibition On Display until February 1, 2020
Our Five Senses connects the science of the senses with the mind and the literary experience. Unique materials in the exhibition cross three centuries of human discovery. Visitors will learn about their identity, perceptions, and…
Mad Science Spooktacular Science Show
This spooktacular program will have you gasping and laughing at the Mad Scientist with peculiar and chilling science experiments as he introduces you to eerie world of dry ice, makes bubbling potions, and lots of fearsome…
Malcolm Gladwell | Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know
Tickets on sale September 9, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. With “an uncanny ability to simplify without being simplistic” ( Seattle Times ), Malcolm Gladwell synthesizes academic research and critical analysis with engaging prose and…
Orientation - Pathway Forward: G.E.D Preparation Class
Join Pathway Forward and the Free Library of Philadelphia's Languages and Learning Center for FREE G.E.D. and Adult Basic Education classes on Saturdays and Sundays. Orientation Saturday, September 7, 2019 10:00 a.m. –…
Orientation - Pathway Forward: G.E.D Preparation Class
Join Pathway Forward and the Free Library of Philadelphia's Languages and Learning Center for FREE G.E.D. and Adult Basic Education classes on Saturdays and Sundays. Orientation Saturday, September 7, 2019 10:00 a.m. –…
Robot Challenge
Beat the heat and crack the code! Children ages 8-12 will engage in problem solving, team-building, and critical thinking with a series of hands-on robotics challenges. Teach a robot how to draw, move through mazes, and more! Are you up…
"Wonder"-ful Discoveries: Fun in the Sun!
Margaret S. Halloran Literacy Seiries Discover science, literature, art, poetry, and more through hands-on activities at your library! The last Thursday of each month will be a special "fun in the Sun" outdoor session of…
Robot Challenge
Beat the heat and crack the code! Children ages 8-12 will engage in problem solving, team-building, and critical thinking with a series of hands-on robotics challenges. Teach a robot how to draw, move through mazes, and more! Are you up…
STEM Lab
Come join us as we learn about science. We will build volcanoes, examine things under a microscope, build balloon rockets, and build circuits.
Robot Challenge
Beat the heat and crack the code! Children ages 8-12 will engage in problem solving, team-building, and critical thinking with a series of hands-on robotics challenges. Teach a robot how to draw, move through mazes, and more! Are you up…
STEM - Science
Suggested books for students in the field of science.
STEM - Engineering
Suggested books for students in the field of engineering.
NASA
Learn more about The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which is responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.
Wild Weather
From global warming and carbon footprints to new weather forecasting technologies and more frequent natural disasters like volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, tornadoes, typhoons, hurricanes, and more.
Fantastic Planets and Adventurous Astronauts
Read these biographies of astronauts and the planets and galaxies they have explored.
Research in Context *
Discover reliable and trusted information on a variety of topics to support middle school student research for government, U.S and world history, geography, literature, sciences, and social issues. Research In Context offers…
InfoTrac Student Edition *
High school students will have access to age-appropriate content from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and engaging multi-media covering a wide range of subjects, from science, history, and literature to political…
GREENR - Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources *
GREENR, Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources, offers researchers an interdisciplinary resource for environment and sustainability studies. GREENR provides news, background information, video, commentaries,…
Books & Authors *
Discover fiction and non-fiction books that match your interests! Books and Authors (powered by Gale's popular What Do I Read Next? series) is for readers from every level of reading proficiency and enables users to explore the endless…
American Physical Society Online Journals
Academic Search Main Edition *
Academic Search Main Edition is a multi-disciplinary database providing full text for nearly 2,000 journals and periodicals and is updated daily on EBSCOhost.
Academic OneFile *
More than 18,000 peer-reviewed journals and more than 9,200 in full text Full text of The Economist ranging from 1988 to the present, with no embargo Full text of The New York Times from 1985 to present, updated daily Full text of The…
Esi Edugyan | Washington Black
Esi Edugyan’s novel Half-Blood Blues , the story of a World War II–era mixed-race jazz band’s abducted star trumpeter, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, among other honors. She is also the author of another novel, The Second…
Jacob Shell | Giants of the Monsoon Forest: Living and Working with Elephants
In conversation with Nikil Saval, an editor of n+1 and author of Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace A professor of geography and urban studies at Temple University, Jacob Shell is the author of Transportation and Revolt: Pigeons,…
Susan Hockfield | The Age of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution
The first woman and the first life scientist to head the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Susan Hockfield now serves as the esteemed institution’s President Emerita. A pioneering neuroscientist whose work included the…
Bill McKibben | Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
“The world’s best green journalist” ( Time ), Bill McKibben gave one of the earliest cautions about global warming with his 1989 book The End of Nature . His many other bestselling books about the environment include Deep Economy ,…
Barry Lopez | Horizon
Barry Lopez won the National Book Award for Arctic Dreams , a “rich, abundant, vigorously composed” ( Boston Globe ) meditation on his travels in the barren but beautiful far North. His other work includes Of Wolves and Men , Crow and…
Adam Rutherford | Humanimal: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature A New Evolutionary History
“A heady amalgam of science, history, a little bit of anthropology and plenty of nuanced, captivating storytelling” ( The New York Times Book Review ), Adam Rutherford’s A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived delves into the…
Frans de Waal | Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves
Esteemed primatologist Frans de Waal is the author of The Bonobo and the Atheist , a “tour de force” ( Nature ) exploration of the biological roots of human morality found in primate social emotions, including empathy, reciprocity, and…
Dani Shapiro | Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
In conversation with Beth Kephart , the award-winning author of twenty-four books, including Going Over , Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir , and Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River . Delivering “an…
Gregory B. Jaczko | Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator
The Chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2009-2012, Dr. Gregory Jaczko oversaw the U.S. government’s response to Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster. An NRC commissioner from 2005-2009 and former science…
René Redzepi and David Zilber | The Noma Guide to Fermentation
René Redzepi is chef and co-owner of Copenhagen’s Michelin two-star restaurant Noma, recognized an astounding four times as the best in the world. He is one of Time ’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and the subject of two…
Barbara Kingsolver | Unsheltered
With a “special gift for the vivid evocation of landscape and of her characters' state of mind” ( New York Times Book Review ), Barbara Kingsolver is the author of The Poisonwood Bible , a finalist for both the Pulitzer and the Orange…
Sandeep Jauhar | Heart: A History
Exploring little-known, behind-the-scenes work in hospitals and the all-too-human lives of doctors, Dr. Sandeep Jauhar is a practicing cardiologist and author of two bestselling medical memoirs, Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation and the…
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha | What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City
The dramatic story of the Flint water crisis—the signature environmental disaster of our time—and an inspiring tale of scientific resistance by a relentless physician who stood up to power. Internationally recognized for her 2015 study…
Randi Hutter Epstein | Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything
Please join Randi on the launch date of her latest book, Aroused , which takes us on a guided tour through the intellectually arousing history and science of hormones. Randi’s prior book Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the…
Paul Offit | Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren't Your Best Source of Health Information
The Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a Professor of Vaccinology and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Dr. Paul Offit is the co-inventor of the…
Katrina van Grouw | Unnatural Selection
The former curator of the ornithological collections at London’s Natural History Museum, Katrina van Grouw is the author of The Unfeathered Bird . A sumptuous labor of love, this hybrid of art, science, and history features 385 detailed…
Eliza Griswold | Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America
In the New York Times bestselling book The Tenth Parallel , immersive journalist Eliza Griswold spent seven years traversing the geographic and ideological fronts in Africa and Asia where Christianity and Islam collide. In I Am the…
Simon Winchester | The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
Celebrated by critics and readers alike for “interweaving history, fascinating trivia and acute observation” ( New York Times Book Review ), Simon Winchester is the bestselling author of the nonfiction books The Professor and the…
Mark C. Serreze | Brave New Arctic: The Untold Story of the Melting North
A fellow of the American Meteorological Society and director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, geographer Mark C. Serreze is one of the world’s foremost experts on the planet’s cryosphere—Earth’s snow and ice cover—and its…
Alan Stern and David Grinspoon | Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
The principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto, a planetary scientist, and an aerospace executive and consultant, Dr. Alan Stern has participated in a mind-blowing 29 space missions and has served in the loftiest strata…
Weather Wiz Kids
One stop for all kinds of weather links, just for kids! For grades 3 and up.
Visible Earth
From NASA. Images of our planet that can be searched by satellite, region, state, and more. For grades 4 and up.
US Department of Education STEM programs
List of programs and research with STEM emphasis.
The Weather Channel
From the Weather Channel. Includes your local forecast, stormwatches, ski conditions, flu outbreaks, and more. For 4th grade and up.
The Space Place
Games, projects, amazing facts, and more brought to you from NASA. For grades 3 and up.
The Franklin Institute STEM Scholars
Program that serves a select group of Philadelphia-area students in grades 9-12 who are passionate about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects.
STEM Philly
STEM Philly's goal is to stimulate students’ interest in STEM subjects and enhance their learning so they will become part of the STEM workforce in the Philadelphia area. With the help of volunteers and partners organizations, Explore…
STEM Education Coalition
Raises awareness in Congress, the Administration, and other organizations about the critical role that STEM education plays in enabling the U.S. to remain the economic and technological leader of the global marketplace of the 21st century.
Solar System Exploration - Kids
A kids' page from NASA. Build your own models, submit pictures for the art gallery, watch videos and more. For 2nd grade and up.
Philadelphia Science Festival
The Philadelphia Science Festival is a nine-day, community-wide celebration of science that takes place annually in April, featuring lectures, debates, hands-on activities, special exhibitions and a variety of other informal science…
PBS.org-Savage Earth
Just like the Savage Earth series. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes, and more. For grades 4 and up.
PBS LearningMedia
Lots of STEM-related content and lesson plans on this free digital media content library site that builds on the strength of public media and is the destination for relevant educational resources for PreK-12 teachers.
Natural Disasters
In every place humans live, the possibility of a natural disaster exists. From National Geographic. Grades 4 and up.
National Weather Service
From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service. Includes advisories, all kinds of forecasts, and text message signup. For grades 5 and up.
National Severe Storms Laboratory
Coloring books that you can print about weather! For Kindergarten and up. Children may need help with printing.
NASA History Division
A history of astronauts and their biographies from NASA. For grades 4 and up.
Kids Against Global Warming
Do something about global warming. The best things to do to prevent global warming. For grades 2 and up.
Exploring the Planets
From the National Air and Space Museum. Explore comets, compare planets, take a trip on the Voyager and more! For grades 4 and up.
ESA Kids
A website for kids from the European Space Academy. Includes information about space, earth, and other cool facts about our universe. For grades 4 and up.
EPA for kids
From the Environmental Protection Agency, for kids. Climate change, the greenhouse effect, games and more. For grades 3 and up.