Stan the Author
Stan Taylor has authored three science books Taylor’s Pneumatic Toys, Career Options Maria Sirdar-Nickel and Hover & Soar.
Taylor’s Pneumatic Toys
This book contains drawings, pictures and parts for assembling 9 pneumatic (air powered) toys using plastic syringes. Each toy has at least one moveable part. Scientist Stan’s signature toy is his pneumatically controlled Canadarm (his own invention). He has taught children at Lee Valley Tools and the AstroNuts Kids Space Club and educators at the Ontario Association of Physics Teachers, the Science Teachers Association of Ontario, and the Space Exploration Educators’ Conference (NASA) how to build his Canadarm. Children have an opportunity to learn the joy of working with wood to the construction of an end product that should last a lifetime.
Review for Stanley R. Taylor’s Pneumatic Toys
Stan Taylor, a long-time science teacher and STAO member and contributor, has written a great little manual for building cool toys that demonstrate the principle of the multiplication of force. Not only can this instructive manual assist teachers with the Grade 8 science curriculum through its hands-on activities but it can also be useful for secondary physics units on force. You can tell that Stan had a great time creating these toys with his grandchildren (his interspersed anecdotes attest to this) and we are lucky that he decided to share his building skills and physics knowledge. It is a great resource for anyone with an interest in building fun toys.
The book details nine different experimental setups including a pneumatically-controlled miniature Canadarm, the construction of a front-end loader and a McDigger. What is great is that these experiments in pneumatics result in toys to be enjoyed for a long time after they are built.
Each pneumatic toy is described in detail and comes with a well-labelled diagram and step-by-step photos. In order to construct these toys, some basic materials are needed such as pieces of wood of different sizes and shapes, some syringes, tubing for the syringes, and wooden wheels. With each toy, all required materials are listed and step-by-step instructions help the novice through the building of each toy, which is best tried at home first if possible.
A lab bench or some other work space is also useful. Teachers should dedicate several periods to construct each toy, and some assembly beforehand might facilitate classroom work. Teachers can approach the construction of any one of the pneumatic toys as a teacher-guided activity, a student-led inquiry or some mix of the latter.
Stan has included a short section on useful websites as well as suggestions for evaluation and rubrics (for toy design and construction) for teachers. In all, it is a useful resource for teachers, parents and budding engineers.
Sylvia Welke
Promotion Committee, STAO
Nov 2014
Career Options Maria Sirdar-Nickel
Scientist Stan is writing 12 books under the title Career Options… to provide role models for our youth (Grades 5 to 12) to possibly give them role models they might want to emulate in their pursuit of a career in science, engineering or education. Career Options Maria Sirdar-Nickel is the first in this series.
Maria is an educator in Winnipeg who trained other teachers and children how to design experiments to possibly go to the International Space Station (ISS). Grade 5 students of teacher Leslie Nesbitt Fuerst, whom Maria taught, had their experiment selected to go to the ISS. This was a Canadian first. You can read about Maria’s adventures, disappointments and challenges to ensure the students’ experiment was ready to be shipped for the flight.
Review by Jacqueline Flowers on July 15, 2015
Career Options Maria Sirdar-Nickel is a book about what everyone aspires to do with their life….find a job that they absolutely love. Stanley R. Taylor has written this wonderful book describing the path that led teacher Maria Nickel to be the amazing educator that she is today. Everyone has their struggles and highlights, but Mr. Taylor is able to focus on one incredible person and her profession to show how one can affect so many others in a positive way.
Jacqueline Flowers
Educator at Chandler Unified School District in Arizona
2016
Hover & Soar
Hover & Soar is intended to complement the Grade 6 Ontario Ministry science curriculum on “Flight.” Using easy-to-follow, interactive experiments and engaging illustrations, Hover & Soar teaches children how to build balloon-powered hovercrafts and balsa wood gliders with control surfaces.
Unlike current textbooks however, Hover and Soar uses Newton’s laws to explain aircraft lift rather than using the Bernoulli Principle. In this text, Mr. Taylor’s adopted view of lift is internationally supported by published NACA documents, David Abnderson’s and Scott Eberhardt’s (two accomplished pilots) Understanding Flight, and Holger Babinsky, Ph.D., aeronautical engineer and professor at the University of Cambridge.
An easy, enjoyable text with personal tidbits from Mr. Taylor’s past teaching experiences, teachers will surely find that they regularly include this in their Grade 6 science curriculum in the future.
Review by Linda Rush Frantz
Hover & Soar, by Stanley R. Taylor, is very well-written, easy to understand, and full of great ideas to teach upper Elementary students about force, motion, and flight. This book fits perfectly as part of the curriculum for my after-school STEAM Club. The projects are kid-friendly, engaging, and supplies for each project are inexpensive and easy to obtain. I highly recommend this book for educators who want to enhance their regular curriculum and engage students in authentic, hands-on STEM/STEAM projects!
Linda Rush Frantz
Educator at Putnam City Schools, Oklahoma
2018