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STEM Tuesday– Taking a Look at Climate Change/Earth Science– Writing Tips & Resources

By STEM Tuesday on February 19, 2019 / Climate Change/Earth Science, Common Core & NGSS, Cross-Curricular, STEM Tuesday

The Right Words

There’s a Neil Gaiman quote which is popular around the writing circles.

“Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.”

Find the right word.

And then the next.

And then the next…

That’s where the “magic” of writing comes in, right? Wrong. That’s where the work of writing comes in.

Hard work is the magic.

In nonfiction, finding the right words are just as important as it is in fiction. And in STEM nonfiction, the importance and value of the précise and correct word rises exponentially. The right word can make or break the credibility of the piece. The wrong word can create confusion, misinformation, and spread inaccuracies.

The right word matters.

This month’s topic is Climate Change/Earth Science. While planning the Writing Tips & Resources post this month, I originally planned an optimistic post on the potential solutions to our environmental issues blossoming in some of our young minds. Kids working toward and demanding changes in their institutions and local environments. It’s promising.

But then I heard something last week that made me shelf the original touch-feely post. It was an unfortunate reminder of how important the right words are. One prominent politician making fun of another prominent politician with the classic jab of “global warming? (laugh, laugh, laugh)” as the second politician made a campaign announcement backdropped by snow and cold weather.

Global Warming

One of the most prominent choices of words gone astray has to be “global warming”. The fight against climate change would have been a whole lot better off if “global warming” was never introduced as the lead terminology. What’s hard now to get many to understand is that small changes, like the atmospheric warming over the Earth poles caused by a stark increase in CO2 build up, can cause big problems to the entire system.

The Earth is a system. Changes in portions of a system can resonate throughout the entire system. This is the so-called Butterfly Effect associated with chaos theory (which also suffered from a poor choice of words (A butterfly flaps its wings…) in early explanations of chaos theory). In the system then, even a relatively small increase in temperature can change the weather patterns thousands of miles away. It’s HARD to get people to accept this when they keep reverting to “global warming” mode while they’re standing knee-deep in record snowfall.

Save the Planet

Another problematic choice of words I feel has held back the efforts to promote and advance earth science is, “Save the Planet”. Barring catastrophic internal of external events, the planet will survive humans. Earth will be fine. It may look and act completely different, but it’ll still be here.

What we need to do is reframe the environmental argument in terms of saving ourselves and the flora & fauna currently inhabiting this planet. Reframe environmentalism in terms of long-term economic viability and make it something of value to everyone.

The Right Word

Words are powerful. They carry weight. The right word can forward a way of thought or a new idea while the wrong word can sink the ship before it leaves port. Choose words wisely. Find the right word with the best fit. Make it work for you and work for your ideas.

The world of STEM will appreciate your efforts.

Mike Hays has worked hard from a young age to be a well-rounded individual. A well-rounded, equal opportunity sports enthusiasts, that is. If they keep a score, he’ll either watch it, play it, or coach it. A molecular microbiologist by day, middle-grade author, sports coach, and general good citizen by night, he blogs about sports/training related topics at www.coachhays.com and writer stuff at www.mikehaysbooks.com. Two of his science essays, The Science of Jurassic Park and Zombie Microbiology 101, are included in the P utt ing the Science in Fiction collection from Writer’s Digest Books. He can be found roaming around the Twitter-sphere under the guise of @coachhays64.

The O.O.L.F Files

The Out Of Left Field (O.O.L.F.) Files this month takes a look at earth science, climate science, and some ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Here are a couple of information packed sites from some heavy hitters on the climate front:

I found this article and Tweeted it out to my fellow STEM Tuesday team member, Patricia Newman, thinking she’d enjoy the article on laboratories working to reduce single-use plastics because of her fantastic book, PLASTICS AHOY!

The unsustainable lab via BioTechniques

She liked it but one-upped me by Tweeting me this article about the potential use of plastic bags in cellphones.

Plastic bags may soon be powering your smartphone

Geodesy – I’ve been researching geodesy as a side topic to a story about satellite navigation I’m working on. It’s fascinating science!

Click here to find out what geodesy is.

(Geodesy definition and information from GIM International, “the independent and high-quality information online source for everything the global geomatics industry has to offer: news, articles, vacancies, company profiles, educators and an event calendar.”

And if you just can’t get enough geodesy in your current life, here is a PDF from N.O.A.A. of the 1985 reprint,

Geodesy for the Layman.

Charlotte for President!!

By Patricia Bailey on February 18, 2019 / Articles, Book Lists, Fiction

It’s Presidents Day here in the USA, a day that never fails to make me consider what qualities make a good and effective leader.

Compassion?

Courage?

Brains?

Creativity?

Seeing the list made me wonder where I last saw all of these characteristics in one person. The answer was easy – the very last Middle Grade book I read – Meg Medina’s MERCI SUAREZ CHANGES GEARS. Merci would make an excellent president.

And so would so many other Middle Grade characters. I jotted down a few names from my childhood reading. (They’d be plenty old enough by now). Ramona Quimby (remember her No Smo King campaign?), Peter Hatcher (anyone who can manage Fudge can manage the White House), and Cassie Logan (who knew more about standing up at the age of 9 than most adults ever will) rose to the top of the list. Each one of them would make an excellent world leader.

As would wise, kind, and clever Charlotte from CHARLOTTE’S WEB. (Why limit ourselves to people?)

I had so much fun playing with this idea that I asked some of my author friends to help me out and nominate a Middle Grade Character they’d most like to see as President. Lucky for me (and for our readers) they had some great suggestions.

The Nominees

Karuna Riazi, Author of The Gauntlet and The Battle

“Valencia Somerset from HELLO UNIVERSE. As she says herself in the book, she has a name that seems like you could follow it into battle. She’s smart, she’s sweet, she has big dreams, and I think her and her new friend Kaori Tanaka would be an awesome running team.”

Jarrett Lerner, Author of Enginerds and Revenge of the Enginerds

“Beatrice Zinker (from Shelley Johannes’s books)! She is a courageous, creative, out-of-the-box (in fact upside down!) thinker. And perhaps most importantly, she has a big, kind heart.”

Melissa Roske, Author of Kat Greene Comes Clean and Mixed-Up Files Member

“I would elect Willy Wonka from Roald Dahl’s CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. Yes, Mr. Wonka is a bit odd, but his heart is always in the right place and he gets things done. And let’s not forget the free candy.”

Lindsey Becker, Author of The Star Thief

“Hm, first thought was Ramona Quimby, but she’s probably blowing things up at JPL…
Folly from HOW TO STAGE A CATASTROPHE is a born leader with big ideas. I’d give him a vote.”

Heather Murphy Capps, Author and Mixed Up Files Member

“How about Nancy Drew? She’s methodical, diplomatic, takes no prisoners, observant, and kind!”

Andrea Pyros, Author of My Year of Epic Rock and Mixed-Up Files Member

“Anne Shirley, from the ANNE OF GREEN GABLES series. She’s smart and strong-willed (a president needs a strong backbone) and hard-working. Plus, though Anne hasn’t had it easy in life, she still finds a way to survive and thrive. A role model for us all!”

Rob Vlock, Author of Sven Carter & the Trashmouth Effect and Sven Carter & the Android Army

“Ooh, I think I’d pick Bartimaeus from Jonathan Stroud’s BARTIMAEUS series. Sure, he’s a sarcastic, irreverent (and arguably evil) djinn, but I think he’d be a big improvement for our country!”

Samantha Clark, Author of The Boat, the Boy, and the Beast and Mixed-Up Files Member

“I’d vote for Gaby from Varian Johnson’s THE GREAT GREEN HEIST. She’s my kind of president with organic food and sharing.”

David Neilsen, Author and Mixed-Up Files Member

“I nominate Hermione Granger. She’s the smartest character out there, level-headed, strong, and would have the country running at peak efficiency in no time!”

Rosanne Parry, Author of Heart of a Shepherd, Second Fiddle, Written in Stone, and The Turn of the Tide and Mixed-Up Files Member

“I’d nominate Tenar from the Wizard of Earthsea series if I was choosing from my childhood reads.”

Janet Sumner Johnson, Author of The Last Great Adventure of the PB&J Club

“Mikayla (Mickey) Delgado (from TAKEDOWN by Laura Shovan). She works harder than anyone to accoplish her goals, and doesn’t give up when things get hard. Best of all, she inspires others to stand up for themselves, too.”

Which Middle Grade character would you nominate for President this Presidents Day? Please share below, so we can add them to our list. And, if you’re looking for a more traditional Presidents Day book list, check out this one by Michele Weber Hurwitz.

Diversity in MG Lit #7: Violence and the Response to it

By Rosanne Parry on February 15, 2019 / Articles, Diversity, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers

I am keenly aware as I write this post that we are near the one year anniversary of the Parkland school shooting. It’s such a difficult topic. I wasn’t sure how or whether to address it here. And then I found a book about how six eyewitness survivors of a school shooting navigated their recovery. It’s geared for 12 and up, which puts it at the upper end of the MG range. Still I think the book is well worth a read for anyone who is curious about school shootings and the grief that follows an act of violence.

It’s called THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED by Kody Keplinger.

In addition to a very thoughtful take on the school shooting crisis, THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED has one of the more diverse casts of characters I’ve seen recently. The main character, Lee, identifies herself as asexual, meaning an individual who is is not sexually attracted to either men or women. The other characters are: a religiously observant Christian girl, a non-observant Christian presenting herself in a goth style, a boy whose race was unspecified with parents in prison for addiction, a black boy who is blind, and a Hispanic girl who is a lesbian. The author treats each of these identities as secondary to the main action of the plot but still vital to the identity of the character. If you are looking for an example of “incidental diversity or casual diversity” this is a good choice.

My second recommendation this month is possibly the most uplifting book I’ve read all year. I love it because it’s lively non-fiction. Because it’s engaging and accessible activism. Because it gives me hope for a kinder yet fiercer future where people of all ages will dig into the work of living more peacefully. The book is called PUTTING PEACE FIRST: 7 COMMITMENTS TO CHANGE THE WORLD. It takes readers through concrete practical steps that other teens have used to make positive changes in their community. They include things like understanding the root cause of the problem you’d like to change and planning for bumps in the road. The young mentors profiled in this book include: a Muslim girl from California, a white boy from Arizona and one from Iowa, a young woman with cerebral palsy from Minnesota, a male Asian immigrant from Pennsylvania, a black boy from Maryland, a black girl from Georgia. Each one had a story of a specific goal they pursued in their community, from changing the social media culture of their high school to curbing gun violence in their neighborhood.

So many young people are not yet jaded. So many have energy and idealism and lack only mentors and the means to make a change. I’d love to see this book in every middle school and high school where it can have incredible impact.

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STEM Tuesday– Taking a Look at Climate Change/Earth Science– Writing Tips & Resources