science

Meteor!

Meteor! is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Meteor! rather than just read about it. In short: Meteor! is a 1987 children's picture book by author Patricia Polacco. Polacco is well known for writing and illustrating stories depicting events from her childhood in Michigan.

Key takeaways

Meteor! belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Meteor! to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Meteor! from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Meteor! is a 1987 children's picture book by author Patricia Polacco. Polacco is well known for writing and illustrating stories depicting events from her childhood in Michigan. Meteor! was published in 1987 by The Trumpet Club, commonly known for publications of children's books from grades PreK-6. The story is about Patricia, her brother Richard, and Cousin Steve as young children spending time with their grandparents on their farm in Michigan. It seems to be a normal summer night until a flash from the sky and a crash in the yard. According to Publishers Weekly, "Based on a true event, this enchanting book overwhelmingly expresses the magic that suddenly pervades a small town, from the funny folksy way the story is told to the imaginative, full color illustrations." Booklist says, "Polacco’s full-color pictures are completely in tandem with the telling".

Story The book tells the story of Patricia, her brother Steve, and her cousin Steve spending the summer at their grandparents' farm in Union City, Michigan. Late one night while sitting in their cozy home, a bright light falls from the sky landing in the Gaw's farm with a loud crash. Curiosity overcomes the family as they set foot outside to find a fallen star in their backyard. One line in the book reads, “Of all the places on earth a meteor could have fallen, it landed smack-dab in the middle of our yard, Gramma exclaimed.” This was such a huge deal for the residents of Mudsock Medow. Word gets around quickly, and before long there is a carnival at the Gaw farm. There is a band, a circus, a hot air balloon, and more. The entire town gathers to celebrate the meteor. Many residents touched the meteor claiming it was magical. It seemed like magic to all that the fallen star, which flew through the galaxy, had landed in Union City and brought such joy to all.

Inspiration Patricia Polacco's stories are mostly life experiences. She draws her ideas from her entire life. Her books are based on family stories as well. She learned stories from her family, which she uses as inspiration for her books. The tales in her books are also from experiencing the cultural traditions from both sides of her family. Meteor!, for example, was written because of the special encounter her mom had when she was a young girl on her grandparents' farm in Michigan.

References

Eduplace.com. Houghton Mifflin Reading. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. <http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai/polacco.html>. PatriciaPolacco.com. Patricia Polacco. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. <https://web.archive.org/web/20100126045655/http://www.patriciapolacco.com/books/meteor/meteor_index.html>. Polacco, Patricia. Meteor! New York: The Trumpet club, 1987. Print. "The Trumpet club." Jacketflap.com. The Trumpet club. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. <http://www.jacketflap.com/pubdetail.asp?pub=17278>.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Meteor!

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Meteor! claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Meteor! before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Meteor! ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Meteor!

In research: Meteor! appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Meteor! in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Meteor! is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1987 children's books, American picture books, Children's books set in Michigan, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Meteor! outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Meteor! in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Meteor! means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Meteor! out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Meteor! in simple terms?

Meteor! is a 1987 children's picture book by author Patricia Polacco. Polacco is well known for writing and illustrating stories depicting events from her childhood in Michigan.

Why does Meteor! matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Meteor!?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Meteor!.