Now you can purchase a file for printing 13 posters that illustrate the levels of life’s structural organization. The levels are the biosphere, biomes, ecosystems, biological communities, populations, individual organisms, organ systems, organs and tissues, cells, organelles, macromolecules, small building block molecules, and atoms.
This framework is an important part of life science literacy that is seldom shown all at once, and children will benefit from seeing it. My book, From the Biosphere to Atoms: A Teacher’s Guide to the Organization of the Living World, has basic concepts and lessons that go with each level of organization. It is available both as a printed book and as an “e-book,” a PDF file of the book that you can view on your computer or print for yourself.
You may notice a few changes on the new PDF of the posters. The talented artist who colored the posters made the mitochondria green, and it would have been difficult to have her redo that color at the time the originals were colored. Recently I figured out how to use Photoshop to overlay a different color, so now the mitochondria are orange-toned, better in my opinion for an organelle that deals in energy and less likely to be confused with chloroplasts.
We have a few of the printed posters still available, but instead of reprinting it, I decided to make the file available for schools to print their own. When a poster gets something spilled on it, gets torn or damaged, or just wears out, you can reprint it for your classroom. You can print the file at full scale on 11” X 14” cardstock or shrink it to a smaller size. The text is large enough to read when the posters are printed on 8.5” X 11” (letter-sized) paper. Please note that the copyright gives you permission to print the file for your classroom and for two more classrooms in the same school. Please ask others to purchase their own file for printing and please do not share the file.
Do you use these posters? How do children react to them? I would enjoy hearing about your experiences with this material.
A note to international buyers: These posters show North American biomes, ecosystem, and biological community. The organisms are a Ponderosa pine tree and a native squirrel. You may wish to add illustrations of your local ecosystem and organisms. The organ is a trachea from the respiratory system of the squirrel, but is similar in appearance to that of most mammals. The tissues, cells, molecules, and atoms posters are useful anywhere. Montessori Downunder in New Zealand has a black and white set of these posters that show the biosphere centered on the Southern Hemisphere and native New Zealand marine mammals.
Priscilla Spears
Big Picture Science now sells the Animal Kingdom Chart from InPrint for Children. Our stock is the latest printing of this chart, so it has new features. Carolyn Jones Spearman, who is the owner and designer of InPrint for Children, is meticulous in her images and designs. Each time she reprints this chart, she consults me for the latest updates.
With the high rate of change in life science, fueled by new DNA information and Tree-of-Life paradigms, there has been something to change on each printing. On this one, the material is a laminated sheet that lies flat. The color scheme is refined, and there are two new labels placed near the bottom to show the animals that are on the protostome and deuterostome branches of life. These branches are shown on my Tree-of-Life diagram for the animal kingdom.
If you are not familiar with these branches, they are explained in my book, Kingdoms of Life Connected. Briefly, the protostome (“mouth first”) lineage includes mollusks, annelids, arthropods, and roundworms. The deuterostome (“mouth second”) lineage includes echinoderms and chordates. One interesting difference between these two lineages is that identical twins are only possible in the deuterostomes. Their fertilized eggs keep the ability to develop into many tissues through several cell divisions, whereas the protostome cells specialize early. The deuterostome embryos can be divided in half and go on to form two individuals. The protostome embryos die if they are divided in half.
InPrint for Children’s Animal Kingdom Chart includes color cards to place on the chart. Each one illustrates an animal and has information about it on the back. There is a subtle clue to the animal’s environment in the shading behind the animal’s image. If the shading is blue, the animal is aquatic. If it is green, the animal is terrestrial, and if it is pinkish, the animal is a parasite.
This animal kingdom chart provides further experience for children, after they have seen the place of the animal kingdom in the Tree of Life, and after they have an introduction to the major branches of the animal kingdom. Those introductions can be done with my Tree-of-Life charts. The advantage of the chart from InPrint for Children is that it gives children more practice and introduces them to more members of the lineages of animals. The grouping of phyla on the chart reflects the branches on the Tree of Life. For instance, the arthropods and the roundworms, members of the molting animal lineage (edysozoa) are placed side-by-side with a wider margin between them and other branches of animals.
The InPrint for Children chart clarifies the confusion between chordates and vertebrates. Some Montessori materials show non-chordates and chordates rather than invertebrates and vertebrates. Those two groupings are not the same. The tunicates and lancelets are invertebrate chordates. The line on the bottom of the chart shows which animals are vertebrates and which are not.
There is a lot to learn by working with this chart. I hope you and your children find it an inspiring entrance into study of the animals.
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.
Now you can purchase a file for printing 13 posters that illustrate the levels of life’s structural organization. The levels are the biosphere, biomes, ecosystems, biological communities, populations, individual organisms, organ systems, organs and tissues, cells, organelles, macromolecules, small building block molecules, and atoms.
Big Picture Science now sells the Animal Kingdom Chart from InPrint for Children. Our stock is the latest printing of this chart, so it has new features. Carolyn Jones Spearman, who is the owner and designer of InPrint for Children, is meticulous in her images and designs. Each time she reprints this chart, she consults me for the latest updates.
