101 STEM Jokes by Orion Razat
In second grade, Orion’s teacher challenged him to write his jokes down instead of telling them during class. He took the challenge quite seriously. The alternative was sitting in the dreaded “take a break chair.”
We wrote down his jokes on the way home from school, while we waited for the subway, in taxis, or when strolling through the park. The jokes were based on what he learned in school that day, and on his love for STEM. I was so impressed with Orion’s efforts, as well as the teacher’s savvy, that I ended up sharing the story with The Seatte Times Ignite Education Lab, in a talk titled “From class clown to class author.” Three years later, we are very excited to announce the publishing of 101 STEM Jokes.
101 STEM Jokes, is filled with fun jokes, activities, and informative fun facts. Treva Primus-Fitts, the 10 year old author’s Nana, and veteran science specialist, diligently assisted and approved the process. Nana carefully edited the content, suggested experiments, and ensured that the book would have true educational value, we thank her for that.
I’ll never forget Orion’s 2nd grade wish: “to make math more fun.” There’s nothing more miserable than learning through drudgery, and few things more entertaining than funny jokes about pi, robots, and slimy hagfish. I’m an adult and a mother, and I have to admit that saying “Uranus” still makes me chuckle. Perhaps after hearing silly jokes about everything from coding to plants to planets children will find STEM concepts to be, well, fun.
I hope that you’ll pick up a copy of 101 STEM Jokes to share with children, teachers, parents and STEM educators in your network.
Writing and publishing a book can be challenging, esecially for a child. We had meetings with Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts, endless lunches with Marie Brown Literary Agency, and it took patience, to sit through those meetings, and some courage to speak to professionals as the only minor at the table. The kid now knows how to set up a publishing company, how to open a business bank account, design a marketing sign, what an ISBN is, and how to answer questions during an author interview, like the ones he did for Parent Map and STEM Spark. Most importantly, he knows that big projects take time and effort, and that if you stick with it, one day, it may finally come to life.
We hope you enjoy the book!
Also, be sure to check out the hagfish slime tutorial, that we pulled directly from the pages:
Thanks,
Imani and Orion
