Halloween has been turned into a time for scary things, although I much prefer celebrating the harvest and honoring the dead. There is one scary thing that could be hiding in your school, however, and so I recommend that you check to see if it is present. The scary thing is hazardous chemicals.
When the original experiments for the Great Lessons were created, the awareness of health risk from chemical exposure had not yet come about. Even when I was in high school (OK, so that was more than 4 decades ago), we observed evaporation with the chemical benzene, which is now known to be a potent carcinogen. Chemists knew that benzene was hazardous, but that information had not trickled down to schools.
The experiments for the Great Lessons originally had colorful compounds such as potassium dichromate, which now has a health hazard rating of 4, the highest risk level. This is because of the chromium-containing ion is highly carcinogenic. It is also corrosive to skin and eyes, and a cause of dermatitis and genetic damage. The hexavalent chromium ion is to blame. This is also present in the ammonium dichromate volcano demonstration. Lead salts were another ingredient for colorful demonstrations. They are too toxic to be in a school setting. Disposing of these chemicals can contaminate water and harm wildlife.
You may have switched to safer chemicals years ago, but are any of those old scary compounds still hiding in a box or cabinet somewhere in your school? Now is a great time to look carefully, and if you find dangerous chemicals, call your hazardous waste disposal facility or your county public health department and get that scary stuff out of your school.
If you find a compound and don’t know if it is dangerous, do an Internet search with the name of the chemical and “MSDS” which stands for material safety data sheet. The MSDS has the information you need for working with the chemical and disposing of it safely.
Note: I have heard it argued that lead compounds and dichromates were necessary to inspire children and that those chemicals can be handled safely in a school. I do not accept either of these ideas. Children are inspired by stories, not by specific chemicals. All sorts of reactions can be modeled with a variety of safe compounds. Greg MacDonald of the Hershey Training Institute has written a set of experiments with safe substances. You can reach him at gregmacdonald@montessori-hmti.org.
Meanwhile, I wish you Happy Halloween and experiments that are safe and inspiring.
Curious Critters by David FitzSimmons is an engaging collection of highly detailed photos of animals. The portraits are set on white backgrounds that show the features of the animal very well. They include a good range of animals, invertebrate and vertebrate, with fish, amphibians, and reptiles well-represented. The story for each organism has some truth to it, but it is mostly anthropomorphic. This isn’t the worse thing as it may help children see why the animal behaves as it does. There is a short paragraph on the natural history of each organism at the back of the book.
I can see several uses for this book, both in illustrating the relationships between animals and looking at their external features. The feet on the blue jay are a good illustration of the tie between birds and crocodilians. The monarch butterfly larva shows the walking feet of lepidopteran larvae very well. Children can examine the features of frogs, toads, salamanders, and crayfish closely, whether or not they have access to the real thing.
The original book was published in 2011, and Curious Critters, Volume Two came out earlier this year. These volumes can help children hone their powers of observation. Did you know that beetles can have tiny mites riding on them?
In 2009, Theodore Gray published his book, The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe. While the subtitle might have been a bit ambitious, the illustrations have fascinated many children and adults. The book has a wealth of graphic information, as well as engaging images of the substances that contain the element.
Gray has just released a new book called Molecules: The Elements and the Architecture of Everything. It has his usual outstanding photos along with illustrations of the molecules. Children can copy these into three dimensions with a molecular modeling kit. You can see how a molecule of omega-3 oil looks compared to other oils. Soap and sweets, poisons and peppers, fibers and dyes – it’s all here.
If you are looking for a good molecular modeling kit, I recommend the Molymod™ brand. The models hold together well. There’s nothing more frustrating than to have your large, beautiful molecule fall apart. Look for an organic modeling kit. These are sometimes required for organic chemistry courses in college, and I’ve seen them used at bookstores near universities.
Not every child will be interested in making molecular models more complicated than water and carbon dioxide, but those that love this abstract study will be thrilled with Gray’s Molecules.
The fourth volume of the Sunlight series from Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm is out, and I consider it a must-have book for elementary classrooms. The title is Buried Sunlight: How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth. It has the same wonderful illustration style as the previous titles in this series (My Light; Living Sunlight; and Ocean Sunlight). The story is vital for children to know. The basics of the carbon cycle are here, as well as a quick overview of the history of Earth and the fact that there are natural cycles of warming and cooling. The big problem is stated clearly – the RATE at which we are burning fossil fuels and changing the Earth’s climate.
The story is presented at a good level for younger elementary children, and the notes at the back give supplementary information for those who want more information. Be sure to read and discuss the notes with older children. It will help them think about the issues raised in the book.
Perhaps the importance of this story was highlighted for me by a 2014 report from the World Wildlife Fund. Its Living Planet Report tells that vertebrate wildlife numbers have been cut in half since 1970. During the same time period, the human population roughly doubled. Animals in the tropics suffered higher losses than animals in temperate areas. Conservation areas had much smaller losses, but even they showed declines. The report notes that people are using 1.5 planets worth of resources each year. This means that it would take 1.5 years to replenish the trees we cut, the fish we harvest, and for the biosphere to absorb the carbon dioxide we emit in one year. Clearly we need changes in the way we live on the Earth. Those changes can start with children, and in many cases, they must start with younger people. It is too easy for older ones of us to keep doing what we have always done and to deny that it is a problem.
Update: I am sorry to say that the magnetic periodic table is sold out and InPrint for Children doesn't want to print more at this time. The names of several elements have been added since this material was created, and it would take an extensive re-do to make it current. I suggest that you take a look at the set, Discovering the Periodic Table, which is available printed and as a pdf that you print for yourself. https://big-picture-science.myshopify.com/collections/physical-science/products/discovering-the-periodic-table
We have a few more of the periodic tables with magnetic tiles from InPrint for Children, so I’ve added it to my product listings. I helped design this periodic table several years ago, guided by the principle of “isolate the difficulty.” Each tile has only an atomic symbol and the atomic number that goes with it. The background color of the tiles codes for metals, metalloids, and nonmetals. Hydrogen gets its own color as a reflection of its special role in the universe. With this simplified periodic table, children can see the big patterns of chemical elements before they have to deal more advanced periodic tables with their overwhelmingly busy look. When you look at this periodic table with all the tiles in place, you will likely be struck by the number of metals versus nonmetals. Five of the six main elements of life are nonmetals, and you see that nonmetals are a small fraction of the total elements. Children will also see the state of matter of each element at room temperature from the border around the square where the tile goes. With enough heat, all would be gases. With enough cold, all would be solids, but it would take near absolute zero for that to happen. Children enjoy constructing this periodic table several times, and they learn the location of elements as they do so. They can learn the element names when they refer to the table that comes with this set. The table also shows the origin of each element, whether it was formed by the Big Bang, by cosmic rays, in the center of stars, during supernova explosions, or synthesized in laboratories.
In its present production, this periodic table is printed on a heavy-weight magnet-receptive vinyl. It needs to be mounted on a rigid backing material. Suggestions for backing materials come along with the teacher’s background information. I mounted my own on white board material, and then added a narrow wooden frame to secure the edges. This arrangement has survived several trips to conferences, teacher education programs, and workshops.
Coupled with samples of a few metals, sulfur, carbon, and silicon - safe substances for children to handle, this material is a great way to introduce children to the chemical elements.
Recently I needed to find some good websites on bacteria to pass them onto a person that needed basic information. I thought it would be easy, but I found that there was plenty of technical information, but not that much for the beginner. I was in a better position to appreciate the book, Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes by Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton.
This new book is aimed at 4-7 year-olds, children who can handle learning a bit about things they can’t see, but still need very simple information that ties into their world. It is an excellent introduction to microbes, and it gets my stamp of approval for presenting all sorts of microbes and many of their vital roles in the biosphere. Too often children’s books emphasize the “germs” aspect of microbes without telling why the tiniest life is important for all life.
Overall the information is good, and the artwork makes the story work. The illustrations are attractive and interesting, so that even those who aren’t totally following the story will be engaged. The part on bacteria dividing is a bit deceiving, as E. coli (Escherichia coli) can divide every 20 minutes under ideal laboratory conditions, but that rate is very rare in natural conditions. Some bacteria may take hours or even days or longer to divide. Still the E. coli example illustrates the way bacteria grow and makes it understandable.
Some of my other favorites for introducing elementary children to microbes are the website, Microbe Zoo (http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/dlc-me/zoo/ ), Betsy Dexter Dyer’s Field Guide to Bacteria, and Jeanette Farrell’s book, Invisible Allies: Microbes that Shape Our Lives. The latter is upper elementary to middle school level.
For the adult general reader, The Amoeba in the Room: Lives of the Microbes by Nicholas P. Money is great. The writing is engaging, and the stories are amazing. The reader learns of the smallest eye in the world, the many microbes that are known only via their DNA, and the variety of eukaryotic microbes. All sorts of environments are considered, from extreme temperatures to the human body. There are stories in this book that could be shared with elementary or middle school children. It could be a good study for high school advanced biology.
Meanwhile, I recommend that you present bacteria and archaea, discard the Kingdom Monera, and help children learn about all the vital roles of microbes, not just the germs.
I wanted a way to make the chemical elements less abstract and more a part of children’s experiences
I have just received two posters that depict the Tree of Life. They are from Fairhope Graphics - www.fairhopegraphics.com. One is a basic level illustration for younger children. Its title is "A Story of the Life Around Us," and it has reasonable simplifications for beginners. The Archaea aren't shown, for example. The artwork is bright and inviting, and best of all, the information that is shown looks quite accurate. This poster would be good for beginning lower elementary students, and perhaps even for kindergarten age children. You may have to explain to children that the leaves pictured around the tree represent extant organisms, and are more than just leaves. When children are ready for more details, the second poster, "A History of Existing Life," supplies more of the story and does it attractively and with good accuracy. The Archaea are here, as well as major branches of both prokaryotic domains. Red lines show the endosymbiosis of mitochondria and chloroplasts. The chloroplast line could have been better placed to point to the archaeplastida, but at least it comes from the right branch, the cyanobacteria. The protists get more space on this poster, and the major branches of the eukaryotes are shown. There's an approximate timescale on the left, with arching lines across the tree that show the five major extinctions. I like seeing names such as eudicot, Deuterostomia; Ecdysozoa; and Amniota. The birds are shown properly as a branch of the reptiles, specifically the dinosaur branch of the archosaurs. The organisms pictured on the poster are extant, and they are illustrated with attractive 19th century artwork. These authors did their homework and produced a useful learning aid for all of us. The caption on the tag says that the posters grew out of a "family's journey to understand the connections between fossils they had found and the sea urchins they loved in Maine tidal pools." What a great product of curiosity!
It is important for children to see these "cartoon" tree-of-life diagrams before they see the official scientific evolutionary trees. It is much easier to mentally picture the branches and keep them straight with the simplified diagrams. That is the approach I took with my Tree-of-Life chart. You can find my diagram with my products, and download it for free.
After we launched the new website, I realized that there was one more thing to add, the files for the wall charts for Illustrated Botany for Children. Wall charts are the summary charts that show all the illustrations and their labels. They have many uses, including helping the teacher do a quick review of the contents before deciding which lesson to give, helping children who have had the lessons review, and providing a reference for older children who have moved beyond the stage of booklets and three-part matching cards.
The set, Illustrated Botany for Children - Wall charts only, contains the seven wall chart files, one for each section. The sections are the whole plant, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. The booklet content usually fits on one page, but some of the longer booklets needed two pages of wall charts. Each chart has a title that corresponds with a booklet, the illustrations from the booklet, and the labels. If the chart takes two pages, they each have the same title.
You can set these charts up in a file for children to use or display selected ones on the wall. There are too many of them - 70 pages total - to have them all on the wall. Certain ones can be rotated through a wall display as the seasons change. The woody stem in winter would be a good one to put up as the leaves are falling. The point is to direct children's attention to the real plants in their environment.
I welcome your feedback as you print and use any part of the Illustrated Botany for Children files. If you find a typo or mistake, please let me know. I will correct the problem and send you a new file at no charge. You can email me at: info (at) bigpicturescience (dot) biz.
This new website is quite a step up from my first one, which was done by my son when he was in high school in 1999. It had a printable order form, but didn't take online orders. My son has grown up into a computer professional, and the Big Picture Science catalog has grown up, too.
The latest addition to my products is the complete set of files for my botany collection for children. It is entitled Illustrated Botany for Children and is a Montessori botany nomenclature. You can find a number of options for purchasing these files in my materials listings. Illustrated Botany for Children is the finishing touch for your botany teaching collection. My book, Plant Lessons: Introducing Children to Plant Form and Function, is the resource for teachers that has the lessons and stories. My set of photo cards, 48 Flower Cards for Study and Sorting, gives children a chance to practice finding flower structures and provides teachers with a way to show examples in their lessons. Illustrated Botany for Children is a series of booklets and three-part matching cards that helps children do their own learning work. The summary charts, which I call "wall charts" are a quick reference for students of all ages.
Another recent addition to Big Picture Science is the file for printing color photo cards for my Tree-of-Life chart (see the biology listings). Teachers have been asking me for color cards since I first published Kingdoms of Life Connected: A Teacher's Guide to the Tree of Life in 2008. I realized that the charts themselves would be so expensive for me to print and ship that their price would be impractical for most schools. I posted the files for printing the charts on my website as a free download, which you can find in my biology products listing or my digital download listing. The black and white photo cards for the Tree of Life are included with the Kingdoms of Life Connected book, and also available by themselves. Before you get totally excited about this new set, I have to warn you that not all of the cards are in color. I didn't want to add false color to the electron photomicrographs, and there are two drawings and one light micrograph for which color was not available. The animals, plants, and fungi are all in eye-catching color, as are the cyanobacteria and the macroscopic protists, like the red, green and brown algae. Placing these different colored algae on the chart will show children very clearly that we use the term "algae" for several different branches of life.
My Tree-of-Life charts are what I call cartoon Tree-of-Life diagrams. They are not the precise evolutionary trees that scientists use to illustrate their hypotheses and findings. Cartoon diagrams, with their thick branches and tree-like form, are very useful to beginners, however. They allow children (and their guiding adults, as well) to visualize and internalize the lineages of life. Beginners need the most important basic branches to stand out and be visible.
Children in secondary classrooms will likely be ready for more "scientific" diagrams, with all the organisms lined up the same distance from the origin and with branches shown as straight lines of measured length, connected with right angles. However, they, too, will find it easier learn the branches of life from a cartoon diagram.
I hope you enjoy exploring the Tree of Life and my new website. Please let me know if you have suggestions or questions.
