Harnessing the Power of Science Trade Books for Your Classroom

Dr. Kristin Rearden and Dr. Amy Broemmel

University of Tennessee

Symposium on Powerful Teaching

April 1, 2006

Our Presentation

• Choosing books for your classroom

• Book features to review

• Final notes on our research

Choosing Books for Your Classroom

Resources: • IRA’s Teachers’

Choices• NSTA

Recommendations• Textbook

recommendations• Other teachers

Our Presentation

• Choosing books for your classroom

• Book features to review

• Final notes on our research

Book Features to Review

• Science content

• Genre

• Visual features

How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning

• Physical Science: Conductivity

• History and Nature of Science: Inventions in the context of world history

Girls Think of Everything

• Highlights female inventors with short biographies

• Past and current inventors showcased

So You Want to be an Inventor

• Short descriptions of various inventors and their work

• Discusses the characteristics of inventors

The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane

• Trial-and-error nature of inventions highlighted

• Presented in historical context

Book Features to Review

• Science content

• Genre

• Visual features

Poetry: The Beauty of the Beast

• Various types included

• Contains science content and allegory

• Example: Owls

Story: How Groundhog’s Garden Grew

• Plotline; Usually contains elements of fantasy

• Creative presentation of information

• Elicit from students facts versus ‘story’

Dual Purpose: Come Back, Salmon

• Narrative of the quest of an elementary school class to save the regional salmon

• Includes separate informational pieces

• Excellent example of Science as Inquiry

Dual Purpose Text

• Storyline throughout the book

• Additional sidebar information

Non-Narrative Informational: Hiding Out: Camouflage in the

Wild• Presents

information by topic

• Examples of various animals in their habitats

• Simple captions

Narrative Informational: One Tiny Turtle

• Presents information in time-sensitive manner

• Life cycle of the turtle

• Some additional factual information included in smaller font

Book Features to Review

• Science content

• Genre

• Visual features

Illustrations that Support the Text

So You Want to be an Inventor

• Interesting

• Fun to look at

• Engaging

Photographs that support text

Saguaro Cactus• Both photographs

and illustrations included

• Insets provide further information

• Captions rare

Illustrations that Extend Text

The Pumpkin Book• Labeled drawings

of plant parts

• Provide more details/information than the text itself does

• Diagrams, “up close” drawings, charts, etc.

Specialized Text

Beaks!

Realistic depictions

Specialized Text

• Painted, cut paper illustrations

• Suggested readings & websites that support the text

Specialized Text

Girls Think of Everything

• Timeline

• Sketches add interest

Specialized Text

The Emperor's Egg

• Multiple Levels of Text present different information

• Varied text size and font

Specialized Text

One Tiny Turtle

• Story line in larger font

• Additional information in smaller font

Specialized TextSeeing Stars

• Historical and scientific explanations of star-related concepts

• Sidebars that contain experiments, additional information, and quizzes

Specialized Text

Sidebars that contain experiments, additional information, and quizzes

Specialized Text

Around One Cactus…

Poetic descriptions of animals who live in and around a Saguaro cactus

Endnotes Information

• Field Notes

• Additional Information

Glossary Information

Are Trees Alive? • Provides more in-

depth information to supplement text

• Bold-faced words; field notes; additional information

Our Presentation

• Choosing books for your classroom

• Book features to review

• Final notes on our research

Life Science Prevails

• The majority of books we reviewed were Life Science

• Physical Science was very limited

Books Have Multiple Uses Seven Blind Mice

Exemplifies need to thoroughly investigate, which is a hallmark of inquiry-based science

Teachers should indeed feel confident in choosing Teachers’ Choices books to link science and reading in an interesting, meaningful, and developmentally appropriate manner—especially to support concepts related to life science.