Jennifer Swanson » STEM Tuesday

Using Super Senses Most humans rely on their eyes to learn about the world; sight is our dominant sense. But as you learned last week, life is far different for our furry friends. They don’t see nearly as well as we do. So how do dogs and cats make up for their less-than-stellar vision? They use other, supersensitive senses like smell. Did you know dogs have 40 times the number of scent cells humans do? And both dogs and cats use whiskers to make sense of their surroundings. I learned these fascinating facts from this month’s books about our beloved pets. And comparing and contrasting our senses led me to think about how authors use our senses — and sensory details — when writing.                 Souping Up Sensory Detail Writers have a superpower. They can magically teleport readers into a book. A good book sucks the reader into the action. It’s like being...

We all love our pets, from the biggest dogs to the tiniest hamsters. They inspire and amaze us with their crazy antics and incredible abilities. In the classroom, students can delve into their interest in pets and other animals with high-interest activities that explore the science of how and why our pets behave the way they do. In this activity, students will conduct an experiment to see if dogs can tell the difference between colors. Can Dogs See Color? To start, learn as a class about how dogs see by reading through Inside of a Dog, Young Readers Edition: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz and Dog Science Unleashed by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen. Inside of a Dog, Young Readers Edition: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz, illustrated by Sean Vidal Edgerton This young readers’ edition of the popular adult nonfiction book gives children a glimpse...

    Pretty soon we will be entering the “dog days” of summer, so why not let our STEM Tuesday blog reflect our love of dogs and other pets this month? Dog Science Unleashed and Cat Science Unleashed by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen These two titles offer readers fun science-based activities and experiments to do with their pets based on how the animals think, move, drink, and more.     Mercy: The Incredible Story of Henry Bergh by Nancy Furstinger, illustrated by Vincent Desjardin This biography about the founder of the ASPCA demonstrates how one person can make a difference in the world. His work led to the acceptance of the protection of animals.   How to Speak Cat and How to Speak Dog by Aline Newman and Gary Weitzman, DVM Why do cats purr? Why do dogs wag their tails? These two titles will help readers understand what their cats or...

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math! Today we’re interviewing Nicola Davies about her book TINY CREATURES: The World of Microbes. School Library Journal calls it a “look at these minuscule organisms and the effect they can have on everything from our bodies to the soil to the clouds in the sky.” Mary Kay Carson: How did you come to write Tiny Creatures? Nicola: There are so many things in children’s lives that are related to microbes from always being told to ‘cover your mouth when you sneeze,’ ‘wash your hands before dinner,’ and having to be vaccinated, to favourite foods like cheese and yoghourt. Microbes are everywhere, an incredibly important part of all our lives, so it made sense that even the smallest children should know about them. Also, I loved the idea of invisible, magical worlds when I was...