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Slow and Steady Wins the Race: Lonesome George Reminds about Science, Children’s Books, and the Classroom

10/8/2014

10 Comments

 
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I saw an interesting article last week that reminded me of a project I have been working on over the last several years. Through the article I learned Lonesome George died two years ago, and his body is on display in New York City. Don’t panic, if you don’t know the name; Lonesome George was the last living Pinta Island tortoise of the Galapagos Islands.  Since his death in 2012, taxidermists have been working on preserving the animal. Now that they are finished, the American Museum of Natural History will have the animal on display through January 4, 2014.

What does this have to do with YA literature and an ongoing project? Today’s blog post has more to do with children’s literature and cross-curriculum connections. A few years ago, Ian Binns, a science education professor who was here with me at LSU, but has since moved on to UNC Charlotte, and I began thinking about using scientific children’s literature to meet the curriculum demands for both English Language Arts and elementary science through a cross-curricular approach. In many instances elementary teachers with a strong base in literacy and children’s literature find many of the science tradebooks—well, boring and a bit pedantic. A good number of offerings don’t capture the imagination. We sought out resources that might capture the imagination of elementary teachers and get those reluctant elementary teachers to embrace science instruction more readily.

Fortunately, we both had the good fortune to work briefly with Dr. Jim Wandersee at LSU before his passing last January. Jim was a noted science educator and one of the founders of 15° Laboratory. Among other things, one of the major contributions of the 15° Laboratory is the annual announcement of the winner of their Giverny Award. Each year since 1998, the organization has given an award for a children’s science picture book that teaches at least one important scientific principle well. In addition, the artwork must be in harmony with the text and the book must be a story with plot and characters. For a full description of the award and the criteria follow this link. The Giverny Award winner in 2004 was Lonesome George the Giant Tortoise. Thus, the connection and the reminder came from the news article that I haven’t thought about the Giverny Award winners enough lately.

After our introduction to these fabulous books, Ian and I began discussing ways that his pre-service students in his elementary science methods class might use one of the Giverny Award winning books to teach more science. The current educational climate focuses on reading and math. In the era of standardized testing and the new Common Core, it seems that what gets tested is what gets taught. We wanted to help pre-service elementary teachers imagine creative ways to teach science while still addressing the demands of reading instruction. Too frequently, teaching science becomes a subject that is fit in the creases between the teaching of reading and math in order to chase test scores instead of learning. Ian and I both believe that often the best teaching is cross-curricular in nature. If in-class reading time incorporated Giverny Award text, then that time might also be used to introduce accurate science. As a result, some portion of the instructional time assigned to reading might also lead to dynamic, exploratory activities that reintroduce more science instruction into the classroom. Over the last four years Ian’s students continue to create units, using books from the complete list of Giverny award winners, that demonstrate how smoothly science and ELA instruction can be melded together to create engaging learning.

We have seen wonderful lessons that clearly focus on ELA standards while teaching science. For example, seed germination by using Sam Plants a Sunflower, erosion with A Log’s Life, sustainable land use with Common Ground, ecosystems using Redwoods, and, of course, endangered species and extinction with Lonesome George the Giant Tortoise.

These pre-service teachers do amazing things when they are given the opportunity to create and think beyond curriculum dictates. One of my favorites is a unit that uses Daniel and His Walking Stick. This unit inevitably allows elementary students to create real or paper walking sticks that they are then allowed to use on a field trip around the school yard to measure things and to keep records. What group of students wouldn’t want to spend a little more time walking around instead of sitting still hour after hour?

 With the announcement that Lonesome George is now visiting the American Museum of Natural History, I am imagining how a teacher might develop a virtual field trip with photos from the museum and other sources. One quick google search found this video and links to others. I hope that many of Ian’s students, past and present, once again reimagine dynamic lessons and activities that utilize these wonderful Giverny Award winners in a cross-curriculum unit that can remind us that our subjects don’t exist in isolated compartments. If you know any elementary teachers or librarians I hope you will do your very best to share this list with them. If you are wondering what to send to nieces, nephews, and grandchildren, this is a nice list to start with. These books remind us that nature has a multitude of stories to tell.

Now that I am reminded that Lonesome George is gone, I am also reminded that Ian and I need to move our project beyond the analysis stage and finish the paper. Wish us luck.

Until next week,

Steven T. Bickmore

 


10 Comments
Mallory Cecil
10/13/2014 02:09:38 am

I completely agree with what you said about science instruction being fit in the creases. It is very sad that as educators we look at science as a subject that is less important. I agree that the trade books are a great way to pull science and literacy together. As a former student of Dr. Binns, my partner and I created a project on, "Sam Plants a Sunflower". We were both thrilled with the book. It would awesome to include trade books in the classroom all the time. Something that we loved in particular to, "Sam Plants a Sunflower," is that the characters were not human. They were animals. The reason that we loved this so much is because it would be much easier for all students to connect and relate to this book.

Thanks for sharing!

Reply
Shanice Littlejohn
10/13/2014 02:53:16 am

We all truly enjoyed learning how to use ELA practices to teach Science methods! Professor Binns was an amazing teacher, and I hope to one day influence people the way he influenced me!!!

Reply
Olivia Stott
10/13/2014 05:07:32 am

I agree that science is often left out due to such a focus on math and reading instruction. I don't think that is a valid excuse to leave science out though! Whenever I talk to students about what they like about school, many students say that they love science because it is really fun and interesting, but they don't get much science in school! I think using these trade books is a great way to teach science without leaving out reading.

Reply
Amanda Austin
10/13/2014 10:42:25 am

Science is often ignored. It is ignored and it comes at a students expense. It is so important to integrate science into the curriculum, so that students can really get an education that is well rounded. Coming from Dr. Binns' class, I really left with a set of skills that will enable me to integrate science within the curriculum. Using the Giverny Award winning books, we learned to create lesson plans that, not only taught important literacy skills, but also taught important science skills. That list of books is a powerful tool that any teacher should keep handy.

Reply
Jackie Saya
10/13/2014 11:11:10 am

As a former student of Dr. Binns and current student teacher, I found that this project was a tremendous help. It is unfortunate but true, that science instruction is often left out of the busy elementary day and it seems as if you can never teach too much literacy (due to testing). This project taught us how to integrate both science and ELA into an effective lesson that caters to the needs and interests of all students!

Reply
Mariah Martin
10/13/2014 12:14:07 pm

Testing really has taken over education and has made it primarily about mathematics and reading. The Trade Books however, make it very easy to link ELA standards and science standards in a way that keeps students engaged in learning. As a former student of Dr. Binns I know that these books are very helpful and I would recommend them as well as, integrating science into the core subjects to expose your students to more science!!

Reply
Amber Tolman
10/13/2014 12:32:59 pm

Science is my favorite subject and I was so pleased with everything I learned as a pre-service teacher in Dr. Binns' science methods course. From the challenging student-centered 5E lessons to the trade book lesson assignment, I grew as an educator. During my Yearlong Internship this year, I have already been given opportunities to implement science lessons integrated with ELA. My students loved it and I felt it was very beneficial to them. With aspirations to write Children's STEM literature, I highly value the books given the Giverny Award.

Reply
Ashlyn Cagle
10/15/2014 09:03:15 am

It's a shame that science and social studies is slowly disappearing from a normal classroom setting. Dr. Binns was a wonderful teacher that taught us ways of integrating the science curriculum with literacy or mathematics. By using these trade books, children almost get a hands on experience with learning about the topic provided. It's a great way to incorporate the literacy skills they need for testing, while teaching them valuable lessons in science.

Reply
Indica Feole
10/15/2014 11:46:53 am

Dr. Binns showed us not only that science is in EVERYTHING but that you can also incorporate it in EVERYTHING. Unfortunately most schools "don't have time" for science and social studies due to state testing. However that doesn't mean you cant teach about by incorporating it into a literacy lesson or even math; tradebooks make this easy and fun! This project will be very helpful for teachers, current and future, who desire to enrich their lessons with exciting topics in science and social studies!

Reply
Devon Adams
10/16/2014 05:45:28 am

I had the pleasure of working on this project in Dr. Binns' class, and I learned a lot from it. The team of teachers that I work with now don't seem willing nor knowledgeable how to integrate subjects at all, much less science. His class taught me that science is in everyday life and can be incorporated with other subject areas in many ways. Tradebooks is the easiest way, but even in the activities and labs content matter taught can be spread across the board. The project helped me gain insight on the many uses of science and how I can better teach it to my students.

Reply



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    Gretchen Rumohr is a professor of English and department chair at Aquinas College, where she teaches writing and language arts methods.   She is also a Co-Director of the UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature. She lives with her four girls and a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier in west Michigan.

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