Posts Tagged writing tips

STEM Tuesday — Polar Ecology– Writing Tips and Resources

By on January 19, 2021   /   Polar Ecology, STEM Tuesday, Writing  

 

Squeezing It In

When you spend several years researching a topic, you end up with reams and reams of phenomenal facts. How are you ever supposed to cram it all in to one short book? Well, for starters, you don’t. Instead, you get choosy about what info you use, only opting for facts that support the main point of your book, but also, you get creative with ways to squeeze information in.

Let’s take a look at how writers, illustrators, and design teams use the edges to educate. By edges, I mean all of that extra information frequently found in a nonfiction book. Information in the epitext: backmatter, front matter, cover, footnotes, sidebars. captions, etc. We nonfiction nerds have awesome options that fiction folks don’t often play with. Now, an author or an illustrator is not always in charge (many of those decisions are made on the publisher’s end), but we can be strategic in our use of epitext.

For today, let’s set the front matter and backmatter aside and focus exclusively on matter placed on the main pages of the book.

I whipped out a few books from this month’s STEMTuesday list and will share features that jumped out at me and questions I immediately had. You probably might not have all these books at your disposal, but consider doing the same with a pile of books near you.

MAPS

Lost in the Antarctic: The Doomed Voyage of the Endurance, by Tod Olson, page 80. Black and white; the title uses the word “fate” which gives an ominous connotation; the legend allows the map to convey a narrative. Questions: What information on the map is also included in the text? What information is left out of the text? Did the inclusion of the map allow the author to trim content from the text? What content is important to include in both the text and the epitext?

Ice Scientist: Careers in the Frozen Antarctic, by Sara L. Latta, page 15. Color illustration; the lack of color within the photo makes it stand out; minimal information provided on the map. Questions: Why does the caption repeat the key information with only minor additions? Does comprehension of the text rely on support from this image?

Polar Explorers for Kids: Historic Expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic with 21 Activities, by Maxine Snowden, page 76. A two-color image; many geographical locations identified; no legend or title; use of bold and italics; located at the beginning of Part II of the book. Questions: Why is there no title or legend? Is this map being used differently than the others which support text on a single page? Do the marked locations match the timeline as follows and/or the content from upcoming chapters ?

DIAGRAMS

The Polar Bear Scientist, Peter Lourie, page 22. Colored regions overlaying a photograph; a long caption; diagram overlays another photograph. Questions: Does the content in the extra long caption offer an aside to the main text or does it directly support the main text? If browsers stop to engage with the diagram, would they be drawn into the main text, and if so, where would they start reading? The top of that page, jumping in mid-story, or would they flip back to the beginning of the section or chapter? How can I use diagrams strategically to suck readers in? Should that be a goal? When writing the text for a caption, should I aim it at the browser or the person reading the full text? What are some strategies I can find for these different approaches?

Frozen Secrets: Antarctica Revealed, Sally M. Walker, page 20. An infographic; caption is integrated into the graphic; labels clarify the components of the graphic; seems to be connected to text which is actually an extended sidebar. Question: Did the author developed the concept for that infographic or find a related image elsewhere and use it for reference? If this infographic were not included, would readers understand the text?

Polar Explorers for Kids: Historic Expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic with 21 Activities, by Maxine Snowden, page 19. Four separate images included; black-and-white; on a page with numbered instructions. Questions: Are these illustrations sequential? If they support the instructions, why aren’t they numbered? When writing a how-to piece, how critical is it to include text to support sequential illustrations?

SIDEBARS

Frozen Secrets: Antarctica Revealed, Sally M. Walker, pages 60-61. An extended sidebar that covers a full spread; encapsulates an entire story; because it does not fall between sections of the main text, it creates a fissure in the reading experience (one paragraph is orphaned on the following page). Questions: Are there tricks a writer can use to avoid a sidebar splitting up the main text?

Where Is Antarctica? By Sarah Fabiny, pages 88-89. An extended sidebar; expository timeline; alliteration used in the title. Questions: How frequently does the writing style and or voice of the sidebar differ from that of the main text? In a single book, are the sidebars all expository, all narrative, or a mix? Does this list provide a summary of the main text, provide information not in the main text, or provide something else?

Ice Scientist: Careers in the Frozen Antarctic, by Sara L. Latta, pages 30, 58, 71. Repeated sidebars with similar content; different word lengths; each of these includes parallel information such as definition, education required, and standard income. Questions: Are standardized sidebars more frequently used in certain series? By certain publishers? How frequently is this kind of feature used in trade publications? What impact would it have if this information were provided in chart or list form instead?

Being Intentional with Info

Analyzing the features of these informational texts helps me consider how to strategically use epitext in my manuscripts. My response as a reader to different styles, lengths, and approaches gives me insight into the impact these features have. It helps me understand their effect on reader comprehension and/or enjoyment of STEM books.
What impacts do specific types and styles of these nonfiction features have on you?

 

Heather L. Montgomery finds crafty ways to cram info into captions, sidebars, and footnotes. To read riotous footnotes full of fun, facts, and fecal forensics, check out her most recent middle grade STEM book Who Gives a Poop? Surprising Science from One End to the Other.

Learn more at www.HeatherLMontgomery.com 

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STEM Tuesday — Polar Ecology– In the Classroom

By on January 12, 2021   /   Polar Ecology  

This STEM Tuesday’s theme is on the ecology of polar regions—from animals and plants that find ways to survive in their extreme environment to deep sea creatures and melting polar ice to the scientists that study these frozen parts of the world. From the Arctic to Antarctica, life may be difficult, but it still thrives and clearly reflects our rapidly changing environment. Here are some books and activities you can use in the classroom to help students learn about this unique environment and why it is so important.

Ice: Chilling Stories From a Disappearing World,  by Laura Buller, Andrea Mills, and John Woodward

A browsable book that ranges from the prehistoric to present. Meet polar plants, frozen frogs, and other wonders of the icy world. Plenty of climate change alerts sprinkled throughout the pages

 

Classroom activity: Prehistoric animals (like wooly mammoths, wool rhinos, and cave bears) have all been found preserved for thousands of years in polar ice and on cave walls. Show students ice age cave art paintings (such as those in Chauvet–Pont d’Arc) and ask them to make their own cave art images of prehistoric animals using flat rocks and red or black paint. Students should research the animals and depict them doing an activity. Students can then try guessing which prehistoric animal in each person’s piece of cave art.

 

Climate Change and the Polar Regions, by Michael Burgan.

An introduction shows how scientists study climate. Following chapters focus on the impacts of climate change to the Arctic and Antarctic, from melting ice to changing ocean currents to wildlife.

Classroom activity: Have students do an experiment to understand the greenhouse effect using two thermometers, a jar with a cover, and sunlight. Place one thermometer inside the jar and seal it. Put the jar and the second thermometer in a sunny spot and have students record their temperatures every ten minutes.   Discuss what happened and why the jar affected the temperature. Explain how greenhouse gases act in a similar way to raise Earth’s temperature.

 

Poles Apart: Why Penguins and Polar Bears Will Never Be Neighbors by Elaine Scott

After exploring the fossil evidence of Pangea, this book offers a look at the unique physical and climactic differences of each pole, the people and animals that reside in each, and the lessons gained from explorers and scientists. It includes a good resource list of books and websites.

Classroom activity: Have students research two other creatures that live at opposite poles and have them create comparison charts listing qualities that make them similar and different. Are they both mammals? Do they both hunt? Do they have thick layers of blubber to keep them warm? Students should find images or create drawings to illustrate their findings and share them with the class.

 

Further Polar Resources

Here are some websites that students can use to learn more about the polar regions:

  • Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists
    Find out about the varied work scientists are doing in the Arctic and Antarctic.
    http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/
  • PBS Learning Media, Polar Sciences
    Media resources show the importance of studying different kinds of polar sciences, including the atmosphere, ice, land, oceans, and people.
    https://tpt.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/ipy07-ex/#.X_0yTS2ZOjQ
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STEM Tuesday — Coding– Writing Tips and Resources

By on December 15, 2020   /   Coding, STEM Tuesday, Writing  

Conditional Statements

Welcome to the STEM Tuesday Coding Revival & Traveling Medicine Show! Grab a great book from the STEM Tuesday Coding recommendation table, have a seat and let the power of coding revive your STEM soul. Can I get a “Hallelujah!”?

Citation: George R. Brunk II 1950’s Revival Photographs. Theron F. Schlabach Photograph Collection (HM4-378 Box 1 Folder 4 photo). 

Our simple and elegant design looks at coding through fresh eyes and is inspired by the universal power of the coding embedded in our daily lives. 

Coding is two-fold. We mainly associate coding with the writing of computer programs, but coding also means classifying or identifying something by assigning it a code. I like to preach coding as being the logical breakdown of a process or event. Coding is a way of thinking. 

Coding, on one hand, is computer programs and video games and special effects and entertainment. The scope of computer coding reaches far and wide into almost every aspect of modern life. Alexa is Alexa because Alexa’s software codes it to be Alexa. Banks, governments, law enforcement, education, sports, etc. all increasingly rely on the power of code.

Coding also exists outside the electronic world. 

Coding is biological. Coding is chemical. Coding is physical. 

Coding is animal, vegetable, and mineral.

Coding spans from describing how atoms interact to how our entire universe behaves.

Now that’s truly a hallelujah thought!

Conditional statements

If/then, hypothesis/conclusion, cause/effect are conditional statements. Thinking in code requires using conditional statement tools. Thinking within the logic of a conditional statement helps break down a process which leads to an understanding of that process.

If this happens, then that happens. If this doesn’t happen, then that happens. 

A simple tool with so much power. A way to look at the world and attempt to understand it. The knowledge of the human race is built upon conditional statements. The knowledge waiting to be discovered will most certainly be found by observing if this happens, then that happens.

Simplify & design

Once one knows how something works, the process and the design, and the logic can be extrapolated to other things. Build a better building by studying the steps (coding) termites use to build a mound or the organization of chemical bonds in a crystal. One of the coolest things in molecular biology I’ve been reading about is DNA origami. Molecular scientists are using the predictive binding inherent between the nucleotide bases of the DNA genetic code to fold DNA strands into molecular tools for a wide range of processes, from drug delivery systems to micro-robots. 

Better design comes from a better understanding. Better understanding comes from thinking like a coder!

Steps to Code

A. Observe!

     Watch something happen. Pay attention to what is happening and record what is seen.

(There’s an almost indefinable book first released in 1969 called, Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon. The book combines culinary science, philosophy, religion, and economy in a stream of consciousness style as the author prepares four meals for eight from one leg of lamb. The entire second chapter is about observing an onion. How it’s packaged, designed, and executed to produce a wonder of nature and of flavor. That’s next-level observation!)

B. Break down the parts.

     Take the observations, place them in order.

C. Study how the parts fit and how they work.

     Come up with ideas (hypothesis) of how to get from part A to part B. 

D. Mimic.

     Try out your idea. If it works, then move forward. If it doesn’t work, then try something different.

E. Repeat. 

     Iterate until you imitate.

Logic muscle  

Coding requires healthy logic muscles. Living life through a coder’s lens takes practice and discipline. The logic muscles need work. Practice daily and code your world! Observe. Observe. Observe. 

Thank you for attending the STEM Tuesday Coding Revival & Traveling Medicine Show! We hope you feel the coding inspiration flowing through your veins. On your way out, don’t forget to grab your complimentary bottle of Dr. Swanson’s Patented Problem-Solving Elixir! It is guaranteed, organic, pure STEM with a touch of STEAM for added flavor.

Go out and code, my friends! 

See the world through new eyes!

By Unidentified U.S. Army photographer – Image from Historic Computer Images, Public Domain.

 

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 Putting 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 branches out into the world of coding. As I said in previous O.O.L.F. Files, all roads lead down the rabbit hole of curiosity and inquiry. Have fun sliding down your rabbit hole of curiosity and inquiry! Just remember to come back and do good work.

Bioinformatics: Where code meets biology by Daniel Bourke

Code.org

Code.org® is a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by young women and students from other underrepresented groups. Our vision is that every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science as part of their core K-12 education. They also sponsor the Hour of Code event.

Best Coding Tools for Middle School from Common Sense Education

Coding in Astronomy

I never really thought much about the relationship between astronomy and coding until a few years ago. But when you think about how the immense amount of data generated by modern telescopes collecting electromagnetic wave spectrum from distant galaxies, that data needs to be organized and analyzed. Astronomy and coding. It’s a no-brainer-relationship.

DNA Origami

 

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