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Shortlisted for the Primary Teacher Update Award 2018

Learn as you do in this hands-on engineering book for kids with Carol Vorderman.

Being an engineer isn´t just about wearing a hard hat and looking important while holding a clipboard! It´s about looking at the world and trying to figure out how it works. As well as simple engineering projects for kids to try, DK´s How to be an Engineer will teach them how to think like an engineer, including materials, building, machines, getting around, and energy. You can find out how engineers use STEAM subjects and their imaginations to fix problems, and take inspiration from engineering heroes such as Leonardo da Vinci, Mae Jemison, and Elon Musk.

This book encourages you to investigate, with amazing projects using things from around your home: find out about materials by crushing loo rolls, learn about jet propulsion with balloons, and build a robot arm from rulers. Fun questions, engineering experiments, and real-life scenarios come together to make engineering relevant. In How to be a Engineer the emphasis is on inspiring kids, which means less time at a computer and more time in the real world!

Do you like solving problems? Are you good at making things? Have you ever dreamed of being an inventor? If so you may be an engineer in the making.

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1: Amazing Materials 1: What are materials?
2: Making mud bricks
3: Building walls
4: Snap or bend?
5: Tubes of strength
6: Rusty nails
7: Mae Jemison
8: Make your own plastic
9: Stephanie Kwolek
10: Egg drop

2: Strong Structures 1: Build a gum drop tower
2: Bridges
3: Cardboard arch
4: Skyscraper structures
5: Fazlur Rahman Khan
6: Tunnel building
7: Making roads
8: Isambard Kingdom Brunel
9: Suspension bridge

3: Mighty Machines 1: Simple machines
2: Ping pong catapult
3: Leonardo Da Vinci
4: Lifting weights
5: Cardboard cogs
6: Turning wheels
7: Engines
8: Robots
9: Robot arm
10: Cup phones
11: Computers
12: Grace Hopper
13: Ping pong roller coaster

4: Getting Around 1: Transport
2: Staying afloat
3: Paddle boat
4: Robert Stephenson
5: Steam power
6: Wings for flying
7: The Wright brothers
8: Balloon hovercraft
9: Heavy planes
10: Jet balloon
11: Sailing boats

5: Incredible Energy 1: What is energy?
2: Wind energy
3: Nikola Tesla
4: Electricity
5: Sun power
6: How solar panels work
7: Build a dam
8: Carton turbine

6: Did you know?
7: Glossary
8: Index
9: Acknowledgements

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I´ve been massively impressed with this book. Most of the DK books are great for delivering facts and information. How to be an Engineer delivers that, but also, fittingly for a book on such a practical subject, it adds a great hands-on experience too. All in all, if you have a wannabe engineer in your house, you should definitely check this one out. GeekDad

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