Jonathan AdolphBesprekingen

Cardboard Box Engineering
Subtitle: Cool, Inventive Projects for Tinkerers, Makers & Future Scientists (Jonathan Adolph, 2020)

After evaluating publications in the area of creative cardboard construction projects, Jonathan Adolph's book is a standout. It is the only one that ticked all the necessary boxes: ✔︎scientifically interesting, ✔︎do-able without complex resources, ✔︎informative background and ✔︎engagingly clear directions.

Many books in this subject area are boring crafts projects, catering more to busy-work handicrafts at a rather junior level. Adolph's book will capture kids' interest at the junior to the young end of YA level and maybe even prompt older kids to explore some of the more advanced engineered applications mentioned. Short background histories of the original inventors added an educational dimension that was fresh, factually relevant material.

The projects result in constructions which generate an extended imaginative play value. In the less satisfactory publications, we found most projects largely resulted in a "now what" situation or were too uninteresting to even consider. Sometimes not all the suggestions in a book will have successful outcomes to follow on afterwards, but Adolph's selection of activities had by far the best engagement potential and scored the highest level of enthusiasm in the 7- to 11-year old range.

*Science Technology Engineering Mathematics