Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery from Your Own Backyard - Hardcover

Loree Griffin Burns

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805090622 ISBN 13: 9780805090628

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2012

Synopsis

Anyone can get involved in gathering data for ongoing, actual scientific studies such as the Audubon Bird Count and FrogWatch USA. Just get out into a field, urban park, or your own backyard. You can put your nose to a monarch pupa or listen for raucous frog calls. You can tally woodpeckers or sweep the grass for ladybugs. This book, full of engaging photos and useful tips, will show you how.

About this title

About the Author

Loree Griffin Burns, PhD., is the author of The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe and Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion, both ALA Notable books. She lives in Massachusetts.

Ellen Harasimowicz also lives in Massachusetts and is a freelance photojournalist whose work has appeared in the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and Scientific American.

Reviews

Defining citizen science as “the study of the world by the people who live in it,” Burns encourages children to try four activities, one for each season. In the fall, volunteers can tag monarch butterflies with stickers that help scientists track their migration. Winter brings opportunities for bird-watching and, in particular, the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count. The chapter on spring frog monitoring describes a middle-school field trip that discovered many frogs with deformities and sparked an investigation by scientists. The summer project involves finding ladybugs, photographing them, and submitting information to the Lost Ladybug Project. Throughout this handsome volume, exceptionally clear color photos illustrate the animals mentioned and the adults and children observing them. Though occasionally the book seems better suited to parents and teachers than to kids, the text is clearly written and the idea of promoting science as a rewarding, hands-on activity is a powerful one. Another engaging book from Burns and Harasimowicz, who collaborated on Hive Detectives (2010). Grades 3-6. --Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805090622
• ISBN 13: 9780805090628
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80