Posts Tagged oceans

Gateway STEM

Ocean Fever is alive and well in Northcentral Kansas! You read that correctly. Ocean Fever has hit my home in the heartland. The wave of all things ocean-related has swept up the reading life of a family about as far removed from the ocean as one can be in the continental United States. 

It all started with a non-fiction picture book. 

The book was SHARKS, a title in the World of Animals Series. It was a book that showed up one day in our home library. I imagine it came from an elementary classroom cull pile from either my wife’s or my daughter’s classroom or a classroom in the schools where they teach. By whatever means, it arrived in our home and quickly became a staple of my two grandkids’ read-aloud pile when they visited. 

SHARKS has been read at all times of the day to one or both of them. It is a particular favorite as part of the bedtime reading regimen when they spend the night. The two of them, ages 5 and 3, can recite vital information about the sharks presented in the book and often correctly predict which shark is coming with the page-turn. Their favorite shark, by far, is the hammerhead shark.

This interest in sharks led to my wife ordering another browsable nonfiction book, DK’s Smithsonian book, OCEANS! Our Watery World As You’ve Never Seen It Before. What a monumental hit! We read it at almost every visit. The youngest retrieves the book from the basket as his first choice even back when he could barely carry the book across the room. He knows about every page and can tell me about undersea volcanos and how their lava can form islands. We not only know about sharks, but also about deep-sea vessels, coral reefs, currents, tides, and sea birds. All from the comfort of our Kansas home.

I consider this tangible evidence of the magic of books and the power of STEM nonfiction. The spark ignited in a picture book of sharks, grew into a fire of curiosity about all things ocean-related. 

Last December, our family visited the recently opened Sobela Ocean Aquarium at the Kansas City Zoo. It is an excellent facility! Both grandkids were in heaven from the first step inside the building. Their excitement hit a fever pitch at one of the first exhibits. While watching sea turtles, fish, and several species of sharks swim by in the huge tank, a hammerhead shark swam across the glass viewing area mere feet in front of them! Eureka! 

We moved through the facility and they correctly identified jellyfish, sea horses, and manta rays. I could see the light in their eyes flash with recognition of creatures from the OCEANS! book. Thank you, DK!

What lesson did this crusty, old STEM Tuesday contributor learn? From his grandkids, he learned we can share and consume all the writing craft and resource information we want but we should never forget or discount the value of our end user…the readers! 

STEM not only provides a well of knowledge to readers but STEM can light a fire in them to learn more and experience more in their lives. 

Even if that experience is to love sharks and the ocean from their landlocked homes in the middle of the country.

It’s a powerful magic, people!