Our cute mystery seeds from two weeks ago were indeed mung beans, Vigna radiata.
This cool time lapse video shows the seeds germinating and growing.
Mung beans are originally from India and are grown extensively in Asia. They can be grown in Arizona, but you don’t see them very often.
(Photograph in the public domain from Wikimedia)
These plants are much more likely to be found in the grocery store as sprouts.
Big animals like great white sharks are often the objects of strong emotions, which can lead to the spread of misinformation and myth. For that reason, nonfiction books for kids like Searching for Great White Sharks: A Shark Diver’s Quest for Mr. Big (Shark Expedition)
This book is unique because Mary Cerullo tells the story of world-renowned underwater photographer Jeffrey Rotman’s quest to capture great white sharks on film and the readers get to see the resulting up close photos he took. Thus, the text and illustrations are tied together intimately. Cerullo gives Rotman’s first impressions of the sharks when he finally meets one face to face (big and stealthy!) and details of how he photographed them (wait!).
Rotman traveled around the globe, following the great white sharks as they search for food from Australia to South Africa and then to Guadalupe Island in Mexico.
(Imagery by Jesse Allen, NASA’s Earth Observatory, using data from the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) produced by the British Oceanographic Data Centre.)Sprinkled in are facts about great white shark biology and behavior. For example, great white sharks are fish and fish are cold-blooded, so great white sharks must be cold-blooded, right? Not really. It turns out that great white sharks have the ability to warm their bodies above the temperature of the surrounding water, so they are not strictly cold-blooded.Â
Although written for children, this book does not gloss over or sanitize the fact that people sometimes get bitten by great white sharks. In fact, on page 13 is the story of Rodney Fox, a man who was bitten by a shark. The text is accompanied by small but very graphic photographs of his extensive wounds.
In what has become an all too familiar theme for books about animals, Cerullo also reports that the numbers of great white sharks in the oceans are declining to the point where they are a vulnerable species (getting closer to extinction). She mentions conservationists are working to get laws passed to protect great whites and also are pushing for the creation of more and larger marine sanctuaries as ways to prevent their disappearance.
Searching for Great White Sharks is a topical book, given the interest generated by popular media such as Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. It is a perfect antidote to some of the hype, yet it is also likely to generate more realistic interest in these important and fascinating fish.
If you enjoy this title, check out the others in the Shark Expedition series.
Age Range: 11 – 15 years
Grade Level: 5 – 7
Publisher: CompassPointBooks (July 1, 2014)
ISBN-10: 0756549078
ISBN-13: 978-0756549077
Disclosures:Â The book was provided by the publisher for review purposes. I am an affiliate for Amazon, and 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.
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This post is part of our ocean science series. Visit the landing page for links to all the related posts.
Today we are going to continue with our ocean science-themed activities for kids, with a fish printing activity based on the Japanese art form, gyotaku.
Gyotaku is wonderful because it incorporates both art and science into a combined learning experience. While making colorful prints, children observe the fish closely. In the process they learn about fish external anatomy, and also details useful in identification of individual species. See this index for an extensive list of examples of gyotaku fish prints by artist Joe McAuliffe.
Gyotaku started in Japan as a way for fishermen to record their catch. Traditionally, gyotaku prints were made by applying inks to an actual fish and then pressing thin, but tough paper onto it. Today you can buy rubber or plastic replicas to use for printing. You can print on paper or cloth as you choose. The fish example above is printed on cloth.
You will need:
The process is relatively simple, but may require practice to achieve the desired results. If you are using actual fish, you will need to wash it with water to remove mucous/debris from the surface. Dry the fish. Place some block printing ink into the plates or trays, and ink up the brayer by rolling it through the ink. Apply the ink evenly to the fish. Now you may either press the paper onto the fish or press the fish onto the paper, as evenly as possible. Play around with the technique to see which way works best for you and how much ink is needed. Set the paper or cloth aside and allow to dry.
Traditionally not much else is added to the print, but you can use your imagination. This gyataku print includes seaweed.
There are loads of places to learn more about gyotaku on the Internet, just load up your favorite search engine and go.
Acorn Naturalists sells a number of gyotaku supplies.
Models to use for printing are also available on Amazon (photo is affiliate link).
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This post is part of our ocean science series. Visit the landing page for links to all the related posts.
For more information, see Roberta Gibson Writes.
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