Those not yet connected stand like farmers in the 1920s awaiting rural
electrification. And for folks already on-line, the computer, like the light bulb,
has changed our lives forever. Knowledge of the World Wide Web, CD-
ROMs, even word processing has shifted not only the places that can be
accessed but also our very expectations -- even our sense of time. I find
myself, a "slowish" person, becoming annoyed at how long it takes to locate
the information I have requested.
And then I catch myself, remembering a different sort of travel. Growing up
in New England, we enjoyed "scenic drives." Rather than taking the quickest
way home, people would take the long way, just to round a leaf-draped corner
in autumn or follow a road that paralleled the Housatonic River. One
summer my father found a spring of clear water that opened up out of the
hillside. He wasn't looking for a spring, but he was looking. The same
spot, snow-whitened and sculptured with black twigs, became a site for
memory and anticipation.
So what does this have to do with learning science? Simply, that the fastest
and most efficient way from here to there is not always the best route. If you
are looking for an idea to capture your imagination -- a story that coheres, a
format that allows you to browse, a voice that inspires -- a slower journey
may serve you better. When I am in the mood for the intellectual equivalent
of a scenic drive, I turn to science literature.
While significant dollars, time, and effort are now targeted toward
technology, few people these days seem to be championing books. I realize
now, however, that although there are important things to be said for the
physicality of printed matter -- the gloss of the paper, the ability to return to
favorite images, the pleasure of reading in bed, the immutability and craft of
the text -- it is the notion of the journey that matters most.
I still believe that books, really good trade books, are especially well-suited for
scenic drives. In both purpose and style, they represent the authentic
curiosities and passions of their authors. Unlike textbooks, trade books are
meant to be savored, not doled out in assignment-sized portions. And unlike
their Internet-based information equivalents, they are crafted by a person
whose skill as a content expert and teller of tales has been recognized by
editors, publishers, and reviewers.
In a good trade book the reader feels the author's presence, both in voice and
perspective. Children familiar with Seymour Simon's titles on astronomy or
animals recognize and trust that his new volume on the human body will be
of interest -- able to fascinate, to show more than they could ever see on their
own. Jean Craighead George or Jim Arnosky, in contrast, enable children to
move in close to look at the world which surrounds them -- George through
her amazing skill as a narrator, Arnosky with his artistŐs eye. Laurence Pringle
or Fred Bortz in their biographies of scientists help us realize that biology or
engineering is what real people do. Books as different in mood as Kathryn
Lasky's She's Wearing a Bird on her Head or Come Back Salmon by
Molly Cone give young activists hope for tomorrow.
Sometimes children find science in the most unlikely places. A student in
Charles Pearce's fifth-grade class was reading Betty McDonald's Mrs. Piggle
Wiggle. The protagonist, sitting on the grass, begins to cry buckets of
tears. "Would grass watered with tears grow or die?" the student
asked.
"How could you find out?" replied Mr. Pearce.
The child planted grass seed in five different pots and varied the salinity of
the water she used to care for them. She was surprised that the one with a
little salt did better than the one watered with H20 from the tap.
Look at your science program: Are scenic drives encouraged? Are books near
the aquarium or the weather measuring equipment? Are science books used
for read-alouds? Is there an author's corner that celebrates the work of
authors of science-related literature? Do books relevant to a soon-to-be-
introduced unit shown off before the topic is even mentioned? Are children's
questions that arise in non-science settings honored? In short, what in your
classroom insures that students think of science as more than a "quick
search?Ó
Science IS questions and answers. But it is also a story, a series of experiments,
wrong turns, twists, garbled data, and sometimes elegant explanations.
There's much to be savored on this scenic drive.
Wendy Saul developed Find It! Science, a database that creates
individualized bibliographies of science-related trade books from The
Learning Team, Armonk, N.Y. She is a professor at the University of
Maryland Baltimore County in Baltimore.
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