Modeling Good Research With Trapped

The book Trapped by Marc Aronson tell the story of the 33 Chilean miners who were rescued from a mine in 2010 after more than 2 months underground. The story is well told and includes lots of great background about the science of mining and how various technologies were developed or put to use in rescuing the men. I enjoyed the story, although it was a little short. The main text of the book ends on page 94 and is followed by a lot of supplemental materials.

These appendices would be great to explore in a classroom setting with students, to ask them what they add to the book and why they are important. The appendices are:

• A list of the 33 miners and their ages
• A timeline of the accident and rescue operation
• A glossary
• An article by a former miner, "The World of the Miner"
• "How I Wrote This Book" by the author, with the subtitle/explanation "and what I learned that could be useful for students writing research reports (and a couple of last thoughts from men I interviewed)"
• Notes and Sources
• Bibliography
• Interviews
• Useful Websites
• Acknowledgements
• Index

Wow! Just about every sort of supplementary piece of information you could think of. Put this together with the photos in the center and the detailed table of contents, and there are some fantastic points of discussion.

The "How I Wrote This Book" piece could stand on its own and might even be something to start with before reading the book. Aronson talks about how different it was writing this book compared with his others, because it was a current event. He could not rely on any books, but had to do online and by interviewing people. He points out the differences between using books and news accounts with specific examples. Here are a few quotes from the essay:

"The real gems of the Net do not show up in convenient order on a search page. You only find them when you know what questions to ask."

 "The great advantage of books is that the knowledge in them has been cooked. Someone had time to think about what he or she wanted to say and how best to say it."

 "Dr. Holland has some advice to any young person who wants to be an astronaut ... : You must read, a lot. Read about people who were in extreme circumstances ... Study what skills allowed men and women to do the impossible, to rise to a challenge, and what held them back."

Trapped has a lot of possibilities for classroom use. It ties into science and geography curriculum, it tells a compelling and heroic story that will appeal to both girls and boys, and the text of the book is actually quite short. It includes a number of diagrams, and I would supplement it with some maps (which are sadly and surprisingly not included.) It is not yet available in paperback, but the hardcover came out in August 2011, so perhaps it will be out soon.

NASA Resources

The FSU Henry Whittemore Library and the Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State University are collaborating with NASA to bring an Educator Resource Center to Massachusetts.

NASA Educator Resource Centers can be found in many states; they provide teachers with access to NASA’s enormous collection of physical and digital educational resources.

The ERC at FSU will soon offer STEM discipline workshops for teachers and pre-service teachers from all over Massachusetts, as well as providing assistance with online access to multitudes of materials for classroom use. 

Meanwhile, lots of other great resources are available at NASA's website, including:

• Find Teaching Materials - allows you to search by grade level, topic, type of activity
• CORE (Central Operation of Resources for Educators) - Offers a variety of classroom materials for purchase, from videos to kits and more
• Educator website - articles and features, photos and videos, quick links, etc.

Sing About Science & Math

I can remember the words and melodies to hundreds (thousands?) of songs, so it's not surprising that scientists are looking at how music can be used as a tool in the classroom to help students learn and retain important information. The Scout Report recently wrote about the Sing About Science website:

"A team of scientists interested in studying the 'usefulness of music in science and math education,' created this musical archive with funds provided by the National Science Foundation.

"First-time visitors should start by clicking on the "Featured Videos" area. Here they will find a few sample songs from topics that include biology, math, and engineering. Moving on, visitors can use the "Find/Add Songs" section to look for songs by keyword, song title, or performer. Visitors may want to start by listening to songs such as "Biochemistry, Biochemistry" (sung to the tune of "O Christmas tree") or "Protein biosynthesis" (sung to the tune of "My Bonny lies over the ocean"). Educators shouldn't miss the "Educating with Music" area, as it contains examples of how best to use these informative and melodious numbers in the classroom."

Most of what is here is music in an MP3 format, although there are some videos, many of which are hosted on YouTube. The database pulls up results that tell you if lyrics are available, and if you can hear an entire song or only a sample of it.

Middle-Grade Biography: Rachel Carson

From Penguin.com

Biographies are hard - lives are messy and some details of a person's life may not be appropriate or of interest to middle-school-age students. The Up Close series from Viking and Penguin has chosen some interesting subjects, some already well known but others not frequently covered in books for this age, which tend to be either pop-culture throwaway publications or something a kid would only read for a report. The books in this series are generally well written and can be either independent reading books or as a resource for a biography.

One I'm reading now is about Rachel Carson, the author of the ground-breaking 1962 book Silent Spring, which brought the problems of overuse of pesticides to the attention of the American public. The creation of the Environmental Protection Agency is often said to have been inspired by Carson and the movements that sprang up  in the wake of the publication of Silent Spring. I have to confess to never having read that book, and having been only vaguely aware of Rachel Carson and her work. A good young adult biography is often the right amount of information for this adult!

Some of the other Up Close biographies are about Robert Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Thurgood Marshall, Frank Lloyd Wright, Oprah Winfrey, Ella Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, Jane Goodall, W.E.B. DuBois, and Ronald Reagan.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

I started reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope yesterday and had to finish it up late last night. It was a little slow starting, but picks up the pace partway through and it's a truly amazing AND true story.

The author, William Kamkwamba (co-authored the book with Bryan Mealer), is a young man from a village in Malawi. When he's about 14 years old he is forced to drop out of school. His family has barely survived a period of drought and famine and has no money left for his school fees. William discovers a small library (!) nearby, and intrigued by a science book detailing how windmills can be used to make electricity, decides to build one for his own family. Not only does he succeed, he captures the attention of the local media, then some bloggers, who in turn get the attention of the organizers of TED -- and they invite him to speak at conference. His story is being made into a documentary, Moving Windmills.

The book is a wonderful blend of memoir, survival story, insight into the scientific mind, the effects of economic policies on environment, and it's a great feel-good read as well. It comes out in paperback this summer and by all rights, ought to be snapped up and make the bestseller list.