Mary Amelia Swift

That year, noting a need to teach basic science and finding no adequate textbooks, she wrote First Lessons on Natural Philosophy–Part First.

Distributed throughout the United States, Swift's books were also used in Canada and England, though the British version did not credit her as the author.

[14] She married Zephaniah, fifth child of Deborah (née Clark) and Daniel Swift, who was from Lebanon, Connecticut, on September 17, 1811.

[6][24] While working there, Swift wrote First Lessons in Natural Philosophy–Part First, because she was dissatisfied with the textbooks in use at the school, writing that they were not "suited to [children's] capacity".

[10] In 1836, Swift published First Lessons on Natural Philosophy for Children–Part Second and Poor but Happy, or, the Villagers of Ban de la Roche and the Children of Icolumbkill.

[41] The book featured religious poems, psalms, and hymns, pictures, and a large typeface, aimed at demonstrating basic principles to children.

[41][42] First Lessons on Natural Philosophy for Children–Part Second was an elementary physics textbook, for more advanced students, but retaining the question and answer format.

[43] It presented information on astronomy, geography, and physics, discussing such things as air pressure, electricity, friction, heat, light (absorbed, reflected, and refracted), motion, simple machines, and sound.

[44] It gave an account of the life of John Frederick Oberlin and his labors to improve the lives of villagers in Ban de la Roche.

[3][52][Notes 4] They were translated in 1848, into Burmese by Lucretia Brownson Stilson, a missionary in Maulmain, Burma, and were subsequently reissued at least twice.

[58] Swift died on November 1, 1875, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and was buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Westport, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

Swift's books made science easy to teach for those who were learning at home with parents, or who attended isolated schools led by inexperienced teachers.