During autumn the attention of the children should be attracted to the leaves by their gorgeous colors. It is well to use this interest to cultivate their knowledge of the forms of leaves of trees; but the teaching of the tree species to the young child should be done quite incidentally and guardedly. If the teacher says to the child bringing the leaf, “This is a white oak leaf,” the child will soon quite unconsciously learn that leaf by name.

~Anna Botsford Comstock, “How to Begin Tree Study” in Handbook of Nature Study

And with these words of wisdom, let’s start the 50th edition of the Festival of the Trees:  Through a Child’s Eyes.

What better way to introduce children to the wonders of trees than a gentle walk in the woods?

In Trees, JSK at Anybody Seen My Focus? takes us on a beautiful walk through Fort Yargo State Park in Barrow County, Georgia.

At the Handbook of Nature Study blogspot, Barb has a list of ways to train your senses during Summer Tree Observations. We often forget our senses of touch, hearing and smell when walking in the woods, and children can definitely benefit from using all their senses to explore trees. Barb’s blogspot has lovely nature sounds that play automatically when you visit.

Once a child has developed an interest in trees, you might want to explore the life cycle of a tree. How do trees get there? How do trees make seeds?

Welcome to Mike at Slugyard, who introduces us to how a walnut sprouts in Where do trees come from? How lucky to be able to find a seedling from a nut the squirrels hadn’t eaten.

We discovered ash samaras in our yard last week, and learned about ash trees.

Your children might want to try sprouting some of their own seeds. Vikki’s Veranda has a post about How to grow a cherry tree from seed as well.

Anna Comstock was an artist as well as writer and naturalist, and she recommended classifying leaves according to color and form and “thus train the eye to discriminate tints and color values.” Art, trees and children go together naturally.

There are a number of art projects in the chapter on trees in the Handbook of Nature Study. You can download the book here. (Remember that this book was written near the turn of the last century and many things have changed. For example, in the instructions on how to make a leaf print, there is no need to dilute the printers ink with gasoline. Yikes!)

In Art through a kid’s eye, Kimber at A Journey in Creativity blog shows us a page from her niece’s altered book project where she has done some torn paper collage trees. Altered books are a terrific way to re-purpose old books.

Making bark rubbings incorporates both art and science, and is a great excuse to get outdoors to play around with trees.

Hold a piece of paper firmly against a tree trunk and rub back and forth. You can use crayon or charcoal.

While children are experiencing the tough, rough feel of bark, it is a chance to explain how the delicate cambium lives just under the bark and how removing or damaging the bark can kill a tree. Doesn’t seem possible that something so tough could be so fragile.

Children can also explore trees through reading, writing, and storytelling.

In his ode to Trees, Joyce Kilmer said:
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree….

Regardless of that sentiment, trees inspire poetry. Encourage your children to read and write poems about trees.

Dave Bonta has translated the poem To a Child in a Tree, by Jorge Teillier at Via Negativa. The poem is a celebration of tree climbing (More about that in the next section).

Kristine O’Connell George reads from her book of poems Old Elm Speaks at this link on her website.

Carol at Where will you journey to? reminds us that trees inspire stories and tales, such as the adventures of Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Woods. She repeats a fascinating tale her husband dreamed when he was young called the woodcutter.

Our own list of books about trees for children reflects our passion for nonfiction books. Reading books is always an adventure.

For an even bigger adventure, how about tree climbing and tree forts? Anna Botsford Comstock once climbed a tree during recess at her school and then refused to come down when she felt her teacher treated her unfairly. A few years later she was teaching at that school herself.

Caro at Caro & Co. has a celebration of sweet gum trees and a humorous report of tree climbing at Love me, love my conkers – Plants kids can play with #2.

Jade Blackwater grabs our attention with a fabulous childhood activity in The Making of Good Tree Forts at Brainripples. She has many good tips about creating a tree fort and what to do if you don’t have a backyard full of appropriate trees. Brings back fond memories, doesn’t it?

For more fun ideas of things to do outside, Emily has links to several kid-oriented nature organizations at The Maine Family: Outside

.

Finally, a way to excite children about trees that doesn’t require going outside is to brainstorm a list of all the foods that come from trees, and then have a tree-inspired snack. Here’s a short list to get you started:

• maple syrup
• apples
• peaches
• pears
• cherries
• walnuts
• pecans
• hickory nuts
• dates
• carob
• chocolate
• mesquite (use the beans to make flour)
• saguaro fruit
• cinnamon
• lemons
• oranges
• mulberries
• persimmons

I’ll bet you can list many more.

Here’s a recipe for Bread from Trees.

Can you guess all the ingredients that come from trees?

In a large bowl combine:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

In a separate bowl mix:
2/3 cup maple syrup, or to taste
1/2 cup warm decaffeinated coffee*
1 1/3 cup pitted, snipped dates (May substitute chopped dried apricots)
1 cup apples, peeled, cored and grated
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 egg beaten
2 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine

Add moist ingredients to the dry ones, and stir until just moistened. Pour into a 9” by 5” by 3” greased loaf (bread) pan. Bake at 350° F for 60 to 65 minutes.

*Please ask an adult to assist with preparing or heating the coffee

Enjoy!

And Jade just sent me a link to a wonderful Plum Cake recipe from Amid the Olive Trees. Looks scrumptious.

It turns out the next Festival of the Trees host, Peg at  Orchards Forever has chosen the theme “edible trees.” If you write about one of these wonderful trees, send links to Peg at amberapple [at] gmail [dot] com by August 29.

A special “thank you” to everyone who participated.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Because some of you may be considering careers in science, or are encouraging children who want to become scientists, I will pass on some of their remarks.

First of all, the women who won Nobel Prizes in 2009 are Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider, who won in the category of physiology or medicine with along with Jack Szostak. They studied how chromosomes are protected from degradation during cell divisions. Blackburn is a professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, and Greider is a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Ada Yonath is from Israel. She won with Thomas Steitz and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan in chemistry, for uncovering the structure of the ribosome. Elinor Ostrom won with Oliver E. Williamson in economic sciences for their work on economic transactions going on outside of markets. Her main affiliation is with Indiana University. For more photographs and more information, see http://nobelprize.org/

Counting these four women, the total number of women to win the Nobel Prize (since it began in 1901) is 17, a mere 2.8% of all the winners. The interviewers were largely interested in the women’s views why this might be the case. As you might expect, the answers are as diverse as the women themselves.

When asked what could be done to encourage women to participate in the sciences, Elizabeth Blackburn suggested that leadership training for postdoctoral fellows potentially could help retain women at a time when many drop out of their careers. Carol Greider concedes that scientific mentors often haven’t received formal training in areas like leadership, they figured it out themselves. This make it hard for them to pass it on successfully.

Ada Yonath, however, thought the answer might lie in the steps before the post graduate. She says,”Although girls and young women are taking classes in the life sciences and chemistry, only a few of them make it to the next and the next and the next step. And this is maybe because there is not enough effort made in making them appreciate science and love science and develop their scientific curiosity.”

Yonath goes on to say that she thinks it is important for scientists to go talk to children and let them know what science is really like. She explains that in Israel they have a formal organization that sends academic scientists to talk to high school and early college-aged girls about their careers. She believes that if scientists are able to convey their passion, their love of science, then others may see that it is possible to pursue their own interests and be successful.

Obviously this is a highly complicated issue, but I’d like to add a practical hint.  Even without formal organizations for girls to meet scientists, many colleges and universities offer open houses, family days, tours and other events open to the public. Your children can see research projects, interact with scientists and students, and often do hands on activities. Be proactive and do your own research into events, because many of these are not advertised extensively. The events/activities are often affiliated with a particular department, such as astronomy or geology. Check websites and even make a few phone calls, if necessary.

Examples:  Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Open House

College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the University at Albany from On Living On Learning post.

Earth Science and Space Exploration Day at Arizona State University.

Congratulations to these four women for their achievements. Now, let’s go have some fun and encourage our daughters’ interests in science by taking advantage of the many wonderful opportunities available.

This post was prepared for the Diversity in Science Carnival, hosted this month at Urban Science Adventures! ©. I will let you know when the carnival is up.

Scientists have speculated that the fancy patterns on the edges of butterfly wings may look like caterpillars. What do you think? (The idea is that birds will peck at the edges of the wings, allowing the butterfly to escape.)

Before starting, let’s take a moment and revisit Academy of Science and Technology 1. In the Garden Science – The Great Sunflower Project post at the Homeschooled Year blog, we found out about how to get involved in an interesting project to study bees in urban settings. The project coordinators supply a free package of sunflower seeds of a specific variety. You plant them, grow the flowers and then watch the bees. We got our free package of sunflowers in the mail on Saturday and we are excited to start them. Hopefully the seeds will grow in our oven-like climate and we will get to see some bees.

Biology

If you are interested in learning more about bees,  GrrlScientist has an essay filled with pictures and valuable reference books, discussing the natural history and economic importance of Bombus species — the bumble bees — and what you can do to help keep them happily living in your garden.  These fascinating and helpful insects provide a great educational experience for children and adults alike. Let's Give Three Bronx Cheers for Bumblebees! posted at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

Who doesn’t enjoy fireflies (also known as lightning bugs)? DNLee continues the insect-watching theme by letting us know that “everyone from everywhere is asked to keep an eye out for fireflies in their neighborhoods.”  Firefly Watching Time again posted at Urban Science Adventures! ©. This blog introduces youth (and their educators) to environmental science activities with particular attention to urban ecology.

(Birds like sunflowers too.)

Grrl Scientist contributed a photoessay which details the recent news that scientists discovered 56 new species of jumping spider, amphibians, and reptiles in a previously unexplored region of the “lost world” of Papua New Guinea. Lots of cool pictures, including a neat one of a green spider, at 56 New Animal Species Discovered on Remote Lost World: Papua New Guinea posted at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted).

Two of the submissions to the carnival related to dead birds. Go figure.

Dead Bird 1.
GrrlScientist says, “What value do Natural History Museums have for modern DNA research?” This story reads like a mystery. Where did the bird come from? How did it get to the museum? The post also provides some insight from GrrlScientist’s “research into the evolution and biogeography of the lories, which are parrots native to the Islands of the South Pacific Ocean.” This post includes images (all of lovely, live birds) at REPRISE: Dead Birds Do Tell Tales posted at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted).

Dead Bird 2.
Kim says,  “Although dissection seems to have a bad reputation with some parents, I am very glad that my kids got to participate in the dissection of a red-tailed hawk. I included pictures from my cell phone.” Kim presents Dissection Class--Pictures Included posted at Kim's Play Place. Note: As the title suggests, this post contains images of a dead bird being dissected.

Math
Zome tools are popular. If you are looking for something to build, Kris explains “We finally put together the hyperdo (short for hyper dodecahedron).” See the results at Hyperdo Kit from Zome posted at At Home Science.

Jeff Cook at Only I’ve Blog says, “I’ve broken down numbers in my day for something to do, finding correlations here and there just to make time go by, making coincidences where there were no coincidences before.” Check his post 2113, “it’s about constants and number fascination.”

General Education
Educatorblog presents Unite Social Justice, Digital Storytelling, and Content with Google Earth Outreach posted at An (aspiring) Educator's Blog.

PicktheBrain presents 5 Fascinating Video Lectures from Academic Earth posted at Universities and Colleges.
“The recently launched AcademicEarth.org is a video site that features full length lectures by professors at prestigious universities. Like rival video site BigThink, it shares the goal of spreading ideas and intellect around the web.”

Thanks to everyone who submitted relevant posts. Kris made this nifty link if anyone wants to use it with their posts.

I will be hosting the carnival on April 13, so if you have a relevant post you would like to share, be sure to submit it via the carnival submission form. It isn’t hard, it just takes a minute. Can’t wait to see what fun science you have posted on your blogs.