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Category: Science Books (Page 65 of 87)

Observing National Moth Week

July 21, 2013 / / 2 Comments

This week we are excited to observe National Moth Week, which runs from July 20- 28, 2013. The website has links to many local events, so see what is happening in your area.

Why moths? Moths are often ignored in favor of their more-brightly colored and day-flying relatives, the butterflies, yet they are more numerous and ecologically diverse. Many are just a beautiful as butterflies, they are simply harder to spot. According to the news release:

National Moth Week literally shines a much-needed spotlight on moths and their ecological importance as well as their biodiversity. The event allows people of all ages to become “citizen scientists” and contribute scientific data about moths they observe in their own communities. Participating in National Moth Week can be as simple as turning on a porch light at night and watching what happens, or going outside in daylight to find caterpillars and diurnal moths, often mistaken for butterflies.

How do you tell a butterfly from a moth?  Sometimes they look alike and children (and some adults) may not have a clear understanding of what separates the two. Here are two picture books for the youngest reader that will help:

whats-the-dif

What’s the Difference Between a Butterfly and a Moth? (What’s the Difference? (Capstone)) by Robin Michal Koontz and illustrated by Bandelin-Dacey (2009) is a beautifully-illustrated picture book that answers the question clearly for children in grades K-3. (Google books has a preview). It also would be useful for units on life cycles.

butterfly-or-moth

Butterfly or Moth?: How Do You Know? (Which Animal Is Which?) by Melissa Stewart (2011) uses color photographs to explores the same question. (Google books also has a preview). For example, by asking, “Knobs or no knobs?” Stewart points out that butterflies often have knobs on the tips of their antennae, whereas moths often have feathery antennae.

moth-childrens-books

A great way to celebrate National Moth Week is to pick up a book and learn more about them. See a whole list of children’s books about butterflies and moths at Science Books for Kids, including some for older children. The list has been updated and expanded from last year.

Finally, if you know a child who is interested in moths, check the free moth coloring book to print out.

How are you observing National Moth Week? If you would like to, please let us know how you are participating.

 

Note: Linked titles go to Amazon for further information and reviews. Just so you know, I am an affiliate with Amazon. If you make a purchase after clicking on one of the links, I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you, the proceeds of which will help pay for maintaining this website.

Exploring the Water Cycle

July 5, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Once children have begun to be aware of how important water is to our planet and to living things, it is time to investigate how water recycles.

the-water-cycle

Our post today was inspired byWater Cycle (Pebble Plus: Earth and Space Science) by Craig Hammersmith, which is a picture book that introduces many important concepts and vocabulary words pertaining to the water cycle, such as evaporation, condensation and precipitation. Along with a glossary and an index, there are instructions for making a “mini-earth” in the form of a terrarium. (A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher, Capstone.)

The first step to understanding the water cycle in understanding the states of matter. Water is an ideal substance to study because it exhibits three of the four states of matter (solid, liquid, gas) at relatively normal temperatures.

Solid Water (ice, hail, snow):

Gather:

  • Plastic tubs of different sizes, food molds, ice cube trays, clean milk cartons, etc.
  • Access to freezer
  • Water
  • Food coloring (optional)
  • Spray bottle (optional)
  • Springs of herbs, flower petals (optional)

Put some water in different-shaped containers and freeze it. Allow the children to help pick containers and fill them. For added enjoyment, add a few drops of food coloring to the water. Or you can add bits of edible flowers such as roses, or leaves of herbs as decorations. Explain that the liquid water is going to become solid.

On a warm day, take the ice outside and use it to build ice sculptures. Remove the ice from the containers by briefly immersing in water if it won’t just slip out. If you don’t have time to make special shapes, simple ice cubes can work great for this, too.

Have the children pile the ice to make buildings, animals or abstract forms. You can lightly mist the finished products with water containing food coloring. Then watch the sculptures melt. Predict how long it will take. Explain that the solid water is becoming liquid water by melting.

Older children can design inventions to protect the ice from melting, and then build and test their invention by seeing how long it takes for the ice to melt inside the device versus unprotected.

(See a previous post about snow science, too.)

icicles

 

Liquid Water:

Learning how to make a water siphon is a fun and useful way to learn about some of the properties of liquid water.

Gather:

  • Small amount of tubing, such as clear plastic aquarium tubing – about 18 to 24 inches long
  • Water
  • Two bowls or other containers large enough to hold tubing submerged, or even a large glass and a sink
  • Food coloring (optional)

Fill one of the containers with water. Add a few drops of food coloring (optional). Submerge the tubing under the water and jiggle to remove air bubbles until the tube is filled with water. Place your thumb tightly over one end of the tube and move it to an empty container, ideally slightly lower than the first. Release your thumb and the water should start moving from the filled bowl to the empty one via siphon action. It may take some practice if you have never done it before.

You can also put two straws together to use instead of tubing, as shown in the first video (Note: there is a pop-up ad):

 

The video below by Doctor C shows how a siphon works using a chain model. (Note:  The narrator takes a sip of the water at the end. You might want to turn the video off before you reach that point to prevent copycat behavior.)

 

For older children, time how long it takes to fill a container of known size and calculate rate of flow. Figure out how long it would take to empty a ten gallon fish tank with your siphon. How about an average swimming pool?

pool-water-texture

(Pool Water Texture by Petr Kratochvil)

Water as a Gas
:

To study water in the gas form, you will need water, paint brushes and a sidewalk or driveway on a hot day. If you must stay indoors, a chalkboard will work too. Simply paint the water onto a flat surface and then time how long it takes to evaporate. Explain that the liquid water is turning into a gas as it disappears and is rising up into the air. That is called evaporation.

To show the gas water turning back into liquid, set out a glass full of ice water on a warm day. The gas should condense into liquid around the outside of the glass after a few minutes, creating droplets. This is called condensation.

Water_cycle

The USGS has a great deal of child-friendly information about the water cycle.

If you would like to make a terrarium as a model of a water cycle, see our previous post.

See how a man kept a plant in a bottle for years without adding water or air (Note:  website has numerous ads and images that might not be child-appropriate).

You could spend a lifetime studying water. Next week we’re going to find out where the the water in your home faucet comes from and how it gets to the tap.

Water Cycle (Pebble Plus: Earth and Space Science) by Craig Hammersmith

Age Range: 4 and up
Publisher: Capstone Press (August 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1429671424
ISBN-13: 978-1429671422


Disclosures: The book was provided for review purposes. Also, I am an affiliate for Amazon. If you click through the linked titles or ads and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Proceeds will be used to maintain this self-hosted blog.

 

Come visit the STEM Friday blog each week to find more great Science, Technology, Engineering and Math books.

Exploring the Importance of Water to Living Things

June 30, 2013 / / 1 Comment

Summer is a fantastic time for kids to learn about water through books and hands-on activities.

Water is essential for life, yet we tend to take it for granted because it is generally so readily available. Over the next few weeks, we will use children’s books to explore the water in different ways, including why it is important, the water cycle, and water in our homes.

Today’s post will help children become aware of how important water is to living things and all the ways that it is used.

why-living-things-need-water

Our lesson was inspired by Why Living Things Need Water (Acorn: Why Living Things Need) by Daniel Nunn, an informational picture book for the youngest set illustrated with bright color photographs.

Activity 1. Brainstorm how humans use water, creating an age-appropriate list. Either make a collage out of photographs from magazines showing the ideas or have the children create their own illustrations.

Preschool examples:  Drinking, bathing, cleaning up

Grade school examples:

Water is used for…

  • Drinking
  • Bathing
  • Washing/cleaning
  • Cooling off
  • Heating (some homes)
  • Cooking
  • Growing food
  • Swimming
  • Painting and creating art
  • Boating and skiing on (recreational activities)
  • Getting rid of wastes
  • Making electricity
  • Transportation of goods
  • Putting out fires
  • Making products like paper and steel
  • etc.

sailboatPeople have used boats and water to get from place to place for ages.

High school biology examples:

Within our bodies we use water:

  • To regulate internal temperature
  • To move nutrients
  • To move oxygen
  • To move hormones and other chemical signals
  • As a medium for chemical reactions
  • To remove wastes

Did you know that the lungs must be moist to work properly?

 

 Activity 2. Investigate how animals use water by putting out a bird bath.

Make or purchase a bird bath. The style will depend a bit on the type of birds that commonly visit bird baths in your area. According to the Audubon Society, the ideal bird bath should contain no more that two inches of water and should have variable depths so birds can walk in and out.

Once you have it set up, record what types of birds visit and what they use the water for.

You might see some birds drink water, like the owls in this video.

Many living things use water to help keep cool. My sister and her family had a hawk lay in their bird bath on a hot day, soaking the water into its feathers.

bird-bath

This robin is using a pool of water to take a bath in. Why might it be important for birds to take a bath?

Certain types of birds, such as grackles, have been known to wash their food and other objects in a bird bath.

Birds like ducks and geese use water for protection. If a land-based  predator comes by, they can simply swim away. They also use water for transportation, by swimming from place to place in it to find food and nest sites.

Make this activity an experiment by:

  • recording the number and species of birds visiting throughout different times of the day
  • comparing bird visits to different styles of bird baths

 

You also might want to visit a pond, lake or ocean and observe all the living creatures that use water for a home.

Activity 3. Water use by plants

We all know we must water our houseplants, lawns, and gardens, but what are plants doing with the water?

Primarily, the plants have chemicals in their leaves that can use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make food in the form of sugars. This is called photosynthesis.

Plants also use water to move nutrients, to add support to their structures, and to keep cool.

Gather:

  • Clear plastic bag big enough to hold a few leaves
  • Twist-tie or chenille
  • Tree or shrub (with leaves close enough to the ground to put a bag over)

On a warm sunny day, slip a clear plastic bag over some leaves on the end of a branch of a tree. Tie the bag tightly to the branch with the twist-tie or chenille, trapping the leaves inside and preventing air from escaping. Visit the tree in fifteen minutes and then again in a half hour. What is happening inside the bag?

plant-transpiration

You should see the bag start to fill with condensing water. Trees release a lot of water on a hot day through a process known as transpiration. You are capturing the water that is being released. Some figures suggest that more water enters the air from plants than from the surface of the ocean.

Transpiration cools the plant on a hot day and is also involved in helping the plant move water.

How to make this activity an experiment:

  • compare the rate of transpiration at different times of the day or at different temperatures (by measuring the amount of water produced in a given time)
  • compare transpiration rates between different trees and shrubs

Overall, we have seen that water is necessary for life. Next week we’ll look at how water is moved through the water cycle.

Why Living Things Need Water (Acorn: Why Living Things Need)
 by Daniel Nunn

Reading level:  Prek-1
Hardcover: 24 pages
Publisher: Raintree (March 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1406233757
ISBN-13: 978-1406233759

The book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.

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