Citizen Science Recovering History!

Science is for more people than a few professors in white lab coats. These days, citizen science is an expanding field. Citizen science programs make opportunities for just about anyone who wants to get involved in some kinds of research -- people of any age, and anywhere in the world.

We've had posts on our Sci/Why blog before about citizen science. You can click here to read about young Kirill Dudko, and his discovery. But science isn't all about only physical sciences like geology or biology -- there are social sciences too, as well as the expanding field of digital humanities, where computers are used to help for research in the arts and language study.

There's a post on a blog called RadioLab, which you can read here at this link, which talks about a citizen science project in which people can help to copy the words from papyrus scrolls that are thousands of years old.

This photo of Egyptian workers at Oxyrhynchus appears on the website ancientlives.org

When Egyptologists Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt and their team of locally-hired diggers discovered the garbage dumps of the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt in 1896, they found an astonishing amount of old paper records made from papyrus reed. There were marriage records, Greek poetry, fragments of the gospels and many older papyrus pieces. This discovery was the beginning of the science of papyrology: the study of ancient papyrus records.
700 boxes were brought to Oxford, holding a total of some 500,000 pieces of papyrus. Only a few of the boxes have been edited by scholars.

There is a computer program now, which shows images of many of these papyrus pages. Volunteer researchers can go to a website, view a page, and record any letters written in the Greek language. Volunteers don't need to read Greek, just match the shapes of the letters. Any work by volunteers is sent on to scholars for formal study. You can read about this exciting project at the Ancient Lives website.

Radiolab website has many interesting short articles and audio recordings about science. Check out their 18-minute podcast on The Greatest Hits of Garbage, including the papyrus found in the trash heap at Oryrhynchus, Egypt.

Of Lego and Lab Reports

by L. E. Carmichael

When I'm not home writing kids' books, I work at the Saint Mary's University Writing Centre in Halifax. Our mission is to help students become better writers, and since I

• taught lab courses as a grad student,
• published a dozen professional papers from my PhD research,
• am the Writing Centre's official science nerd,

I'm in charge of the Lab Report Workshop.

Proof students are actually listening!

Many students hate writing lab reports. They don't see the point of recapping an experiment whose results are known a priori, and many of them are dismayed to discover that writing is a part of science at all. As one told me in a tone of abject disgust: "I didn't go in to science because I wanted to learn to spell."

As science educators, how do we get students excited, not just about doing experiments, but communicating their results?

I usually start my workshops by telling students how lab reports were invented - by chemist Robert Boyle, who in 1660 cofounded the Royal Society of London, where scientists met to share their experiments and discuss their ideas. For those who couldn't attend meetings, Boyle reasoned, why not write stuff down? That way, scientists all over the world would be able to repeat new experiments and see the results for themselves.

Once my students understand that lab reports aren't just for marks, they're how professional scientists talk to each other, I break out the Lego.

That's right, I said Lego.

Never too old to play with Lego

Each group gets 6 pieces and 15 minutes. They record their steps as they build something. Then they break it down and pass the components, and instructions, to the next group. Each group gets 15 minutes to repeat the build based on the written Methods.

I can't take credit for this idea, which the Centre's director encountered at a conference. I can tell you that it works like a charm. In a haze of childhood nostalgia, students play with toys, competing to see who can create the most interesting design from their alloted pieces. After the switch, among good-natured ribbing about illegible handwriting and sabotaged instructions, they suddenly realize just how much detail a Methods section needs to make an experiment truly reproducible. And while they came to the workshop skeptical and bored, they leave still talking about it.

What about you, science teachers? How do you get your kids excited about lab reports? How do you teach them the difference between Results and Discussion, and what information goes where? Share your strategies in the comments - I'm always looking for a new approach!

---

L. E. Carmichael writes for K-12 on everything from gene therapy to hybrid cars. Coming August 2013: FOX TALK: How Some Very Special Animals Helped Scientists Understand Communication

Talking Science with Kids

By Claire Eamer

This blog, in a slightly different form, first appeared on the Eamer Science Services website (where I masquerade as a writer of science for grown-ups), but I thought it might be worth repeating the main points here.

I spent most of May touring Ontario and talking about science with kids, mainly because one of my kids’ science books, Lizards in the Sky: Animals Where You Least Expect Them, was nominated for an award in the Ontario Library Association’s annual Forest of Reading competition.

This was my first Forest of Reading nomination, and it was awesome! It’s a children’s choice award, which means that kids all over Ontario read the books and vote for their favourites. Even if you don’t win (I didn’t), you still win, because schools and libraries buy your books and kids read them.

And, I found, they read with enthusiasm!

I gave presentations at several schools on the Niagara Peninsula to audiences from kindergarten to Grade 8. In one case, the whole K-to-8 school was — rather alarmingly — in the audience. At a Toronto library, the mid-week afternoon audience ranged in age from two to roughly 70. To my amazement and pleasure, all the audiences were interested, attentive, courteous, full of questions, and enthusiastic about science.

Toward the end of the month, I even spent an afternoon at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, talking with kids and adults about animals, habitat, evolution, and the sheer joy of learning about all of them.

The Forest of Reading wraps up with a two-day Festival of Reading at Harbourfront in Toronto. Thousands of kids and teachers attend, cheering on their favourite authors, swapping books, collecting autographs, getting their photographs taken with authors, and generally talking books-books-books with anyone and everyone.

The whole experience was immensely encouraging to someone who cares about books and about science. Books are not dead. The kids love ‘em, in whatever form they find them. And they love science. Both the kids and adults I talked to were full of smart, interesting questions about the science in Lizards in the Sky, and full of enthusiasm for the diversity of life that the book celebrates.

My take-away message from a month of touring? If we can talk about science in an accessible way, people — both kids and adults — are more than ready to listen.

Mesopotamia Comes to Canada

This Post by Helaine Becker www.helainebecker.com

In my 2010 book, What's the Big Idea?, I took a look at some of the most important and influential inventions in the history of the world - from the point of view of kids. What was more important - TV, or clocks? Cars, or toilet paper?

Many of the key inventions we rely on today had roots in earlier inventions (like the clock). We take those early items for granted, but without them, we wouldn't have many others. For example, that clock is at the heart of many of our best-loved tools and toys: televisions and computers, airplanes and cars, bicycles and (ahem) school.

The first schools can be traced to Mesopotamia, where scribes needed to be trained for another big league new invention - written language. Mesopotamia, in fact, was home to dozens of these life and culture-changing innovations. (Can anyone say "beer?")

That's why I was so thrilled to learn that the Royal Ontario Museum is hosting a new exhibit, Mesopotamia: Inventing Our World. More than 170 artifacts, most never before seen in Canada, will be on display.

 I'll be going ASAP. If you go, let me know what you think!

Giving Turtles a Helping Hand

by Jan Thornhill

Newly hatched snapping turtle (photo: Megan Racey, USFWS)

In the past few days, I’ve had five separate close encounters with turtles—three painteds, a Blanding’s, and a snapper. Why? Because it’s turtle-nesting season and I was helping females get safely across the road so they could lay their eggs. It's nice to do my part even if they sometimes make my hands smell funky.

My favorites are common snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina). They’ve been around for 40 million years and they look it. They’re very long lived—and long-necked!—and old ones can weigh as much as a ten-year-old child. In their wetland homes, they act like reptilian garburators, scavenging dead fish and other animals while carving out underwater routes for smaller reptiles, fish and amphibians. Because the snapping turtle’s lower shell, or plastron, is small, it can’t just hunker down and tuck in its head and legs the way other turtles do when threatened. Instead, snappers have developed an aggressive temperament and can be downright ornery. They have powerful claws and a sharp bony beak that—you guessed it—snaps shut, though not hard enough to take off a finger.  

A snapper can't tuck itself into its shell because its belly plate is too small. (photo: Jarek Tuszynski)

Like all turtles, snappers lay their eggs on land and sometimes have to walk substantial distances to find suitable nesting spots. Unfortunately, this means they often have to cross roads that are near waterways. Though snapping turtles are well armed against predators, their hard shells and sharp claws are no match for the wheels of fast-moving cars and trucks.

But even without the dangers of crossing roads, snapping turtles don't have it easy. They face heavy egg predation from animals such as raccoons, skunks and foxes, who can easily smell out freshly buried eggs and dig them up. And even when a nest is overlooked and the eggs hatch, young snappers still face so many dangers that the chances of surviving long enough to reproduce are incredibly slim, so slim it’s been estimated that only about one in 1,500 eggs laid will produce a turtle that reaches sexual maturity. 

Many female snapping turtles wait almost twenty years to they lay their first eggs. (photo: Moondigger)

Along with natural stressors, road mortality and severe habitat loss (southern Ontario has lost about 70% of its original wetlands to development), snapping turtles have yet another problem to contend with—hunting. Anyone with a valid recreational fishing license is permitted to "harvest" up to two snapping turtles a day in Ontario, with a possession limit of five. Considering that snapping turtles have been listed under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act as a species of special concern because of the aforementioned stressors, the continuation of this hunt seems unconscionable.

An adult snapping turtle with hitchhiking snails. (photo: Willy Logan)

What You Can Do

Help a Turtle Cross a Road

Pull over to a safe spot before getting out of your car. If it's any species other than a snapping turtle, use two hands to carry it in the direction it was travelling. Turtles often urinate when picked up. Don’t let this startle you or you might drop it! NEVER pick a turtle up by its tail—you could damage its spinal cord.

Snapping turtles have long necks that can easily stretch half the length of their carapace and they can also inflict a nasty bite or gouge you with their claws, so it's best not to pick them up. Instead, try using a stick or a shovel to coax them across the road. A snapping turtle will also sometimes latch onto a stick held near its mouth, making it easy to drag it across the road.

Protect a Clutch of Eggs

If you know the location of a new turtle nest, you can lightly sweep the surface to remove the scent or cover it with a board for a few days. You can also protect a nest from predators with a piece of wire mesh (at least 2’x2’) stapled onto a wooden frame or held down with rocks. Remove the mesh protection after 14 days. DO NOT disturb the eggs in a nest.

Report Sightings

There are various turtle monitoring programs in North America that want to hear about turtle sightings:

http://ontarionature.org/protect/species/herpetofaunal_atlas.php

http://www.torontozoo.com/adoptapond/

Help an Injured Turtle

Never try to nurse an injured turtle yourself. Use Google to find a licensed wildlife rehabilitation facility near you. In southern Ontario, contact the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre (705-741-5000). For information on how to transport an injured turtle: http://kawarthaturtle.org/blog/about/drop-off/

Support the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre

This non-profit, registered charity operates a hospital for injured wild turtles. They release recovered turtles back into the wild and also harvest eggs from wounded females, which they incubate and release after hatching. You can volunteer to be a Turtle Taxi driver, help with ongoing care, donate money or simply help to spread the word about their work: http://kawarthaturtle.org/blog

Stop Snapping Turtle Harvesting in Ontario

Write your local MP. Write Ontario’s Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Natural Resources. There's an online email you can send via: http://action.davidsuzuki.org/snappers

 

 
 

A day at the beach: Benllech, Wales, UK

View of Benllech Bay from our balcony (photos by L L Melton)

A Day at the beach: Benllech, Wales

For five days in May, I woke every morning to a view of the Irish Sea, as it shushed in and out on its regular tides.

My daughter and I stayed in Benllech, in Anglesey, Wales (UK). Since we live on the Saskatchewan prairie, right in the middle of Canada, it was a treat to find ourselves in a place where the mountains touch the seashore.

Our apartment was only a 10-minute walk from the beachfront. It didn't take us long to begin exploring this new habitat.

Wading at the shore (L L Melton)

On our first day, we pulled off our shoes and socks and walked on the yellow sand. It was a sunny day, with mild temperatures rising to about 12°C.

Benllech retained its Blue Flag status this year, which is a voluntary ecological label used in more than 48 countries around the world. It means that a beach follows a strict set of criteria including water quality, environmental management, safety, and services. In April, the Daily Post had called Benllech one of the 10 best beaches in North Wales.

When we waded on the seashore, the water felt warm and inviting. We noticed no one was actually swimming, though, which surprised us. We still needed our sweaters, even on this warm afternoon, and we noticed some people exploring in jackets.

Tidal pools in Benllech Beach (L L Melton)

Farther out on the water, people were enjoying water sports in wet suits. Canoeing, water surfing, and water skiing seemed popular. The water temperature in this part of the Red Wharf Bay averages 10°C (50°F), according to Surf Forecast. It's warmest in August (14-17°C) and coldest in February (5-9°C). Wetsuits are recommended.

Luckily, we waded in late afternoon, when the sun had been warming the shoreline for several hours. Generally, the sea takes longer to heat up than the sand, because the specific heat capacity of water is greater. This was the warmest dip in the sea my toes had ever enjoyed.

We shared the shore with a number of other creatures as well.

Lugworm casts (L L Melton)

For example, these strange tracks dotted one section of the sand. My daughter knew what they were, but I'd never seen lugworm casts before. These marine worms are popular bait for fishing, but we didn't see any of the actual worms or anyone digging for them while we were there.

We found treasures like this seashell all along the beach. Although broken shell and even small shards on the sand showed where seagulls and other seabirds had dined, many of the shells were intact.

This shoreline follows a section of the Anglesey Coastal Path starting at the nearby harbour village of Moelfre. The Coastal Path is a well-known walk, and this section leads along a hedged path near limestone cliffs, through wooded areas, and over boardwalks that provide many interesting views.

Crab (L L Melton)

But we preferred the leisurely walk along the shoreline, exploring as we went.

We saw several small crabs in the water and on land.
This fellow seemed to have somewhere to go, so we left him undisturbed.

Treasures from the sea (M E Powell)

We explored the tidal pools that formed along the way as well, and were often amazed at the conglomerates we discovered.

Here, for example, we found a variety of intact seashells and interesting rocks embedded in the rocky material jutting out in a line from the shore into the sea.

Our days at the beach proved all too short. Although we enjoyed exploring, there was so much left to see and do when our visit came to an end.

By Marie Powell

Marie Powell is a professional writer, and the author of Dragonflies are Amazing (Scholastic). Her six-book series of beginner readers will be published this fall. She stayed at 7 Llys Rhostrefor, Benllech, as a guest of Visit Wales.

Making a Splash!

Great Science Books for Kids!

While all of us who contribute to this blog, create books for children, I would like to share two titles with you that you might not yet have seen.

Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau was was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, and author. He also became a world renowned scientist. As if that wasn’t enough, he co-developed the Aqua-Lung, enabling scuba diving, and pioneered marine conservation. Cousteau left his mark for ever on the planet. When Cousteau and his teams embarked aboard his ship Calypso to explore the world, no one yet knew about the effects of pollution, over- exploitation of resources and coastal development. The films of Calypso's adventures drew the public's attention to the potentially disastrous environmental consequences of human negligence. Cousteau, through his life and his work, was a major player in the environmental movement.

Now his grandson Philippe has taken up the cause and is following in his grandfather’s footsteps by bringing awareness about oceans to young readers. “Everything you do makes a difference,” he says, “What can you do to make a positive difference?” Together with renowned educator and award winning author Cathryn Berger-Kaye, this dynamic team has produced two recent books with Free Spirit Publishing. Make a Splash, a Kid’s Guide to Protecting Oceans, Lakes, Rivers and Wetlands is aimed at ages 8-12. It gives crucial information and ideas through bright photos and activities. The book features kids who have made a difference and offers tools to kids who are interested in doing the same.

www.freespirit.com/splash offers an online guide to parents and educators.

Going Blue is the accompanying title aimed at teens in grades 6 and up. The book encourages investigation into problems, demonstrates how to prepare for action, how to reflect on results and how to actually make a difference in protecting the environment.

Water is the most important substance on Earth, the authors state; and go on to explain that it is also the most threatened by climate change, trash, and pollution (such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico). Young people across the globe are responding to the world water crisis by transforming their ideas and energy into action and participating in service learning. The call to service is being sounded by world leaders such as President Barack Obama, Jane Goodall, and by Philippe Cousteau. Teens are answering the call to help our environment by being green, and to rescue our oceans and waterways by going blue.

Going Blue vividly presents facts and statistics about Earth’s oceans and waterways and information about the issues surrounding our current water crisis. Readers will find a wealth of strategies and examples that help them see themselves as change agents and move forward to complete an effective service project. The book is divided into the five stages of service learning:

STAGE1: Find Out - Investigate
STAGE2: Dive In - Prepare
STAGE3:  Get Going! - Act
STAGE4: Think Back! - Reflect
STAGE5: Tell It! - Demonstrate

Using real case studies, this book gives teens tools to tackle their own concerns and raises environmental awareness to a whole new level. Know a kid who likes to dive? Give them this book!

Go to this website: www.freespirit.com/goingblue- scroll down to the PDF’s of several chapters and print off activities.

Also by Cathryn Berger-Kaye: A Kids’ Guide to Climate Change & Global Warming, How to Take Action!