What are the essential skills of a scientist? Being creative, curious and open-minded is a good start right? Well, that is why kids are the best scientists.
This week on Science website, an amazing post talks about the Science Books and Films (SB&F) Prizes for Excellence in Science Books. Sponsored by Suburu and AAAS (the publisher of Science), this annual competition highlights books that promote science literacy among children and young adults.
“One day, my sister will be bigger than me,” a friend’s 3-year-old recently announced. “How do you know that?” her mother asked, preparing for a preschooler’s take on polygenic inheritance. Leaning in closer, she whispered: “An owl told me.”
What tickles me about this response is how perfectly it illustrates the creativity and open-mindedness with which children approach the world. Like the best scientists, they tackle the unknown with minimal preconceptions and aren’t afraid to employ a little outside-the-box thinking.
The finalists to the Prize for Excellence in Science Books are:
Lab Girl
Hope Jahren
A Beetle is Shy
Dianna Hutts Aston
Resurrection Science: Conservation, De-Extinction, and the Precarious Future of Wild Things
M. R. O’Connor
Outside: A Guide to Discovering Nature
Maria Ana Peixe Dias and Ines Texeira do Rosario
Tooth by Tooth: Comparing Fangs, Tusks, and Chompers
Sara Levine
Outdoor Science Lab for Kids: 52 Family-Friendly Experiments for the Yard, Garden, Playground, and Park
Liz Lee Heinecke
Ricky’s Atlas: Mapping a Land on Fire
Judith L. Li
Fish Tricks: The Wild and Wacky World of Fish
Haude Levesque
Grow! Raise! Catch! How We Get Our Food
Shelley Rotner
Treecology: 30 Activities and Observations for Exploring the World of Trees and Forests
Monica Russo
Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor
Robert Burleigh
The Cell: A Visual Tour of the Building Block of Life
Jack Challoner
The Great Monkey Rescue: Saving the Golden Lion Tamarins
Sandra Markle
Recycled Science: Bring Out Your Science Genius with Soda Bottles, Potato Chip Bags, and More Unexpected Stuff
Tammy Enz and Jod Wheeler-Toppen
Hopping Ahead of Climate Change: Snowshoe hares, Science and Survival
Sneed B. Collard III
Amazing (Mostly) Edible Science: A Family Guide to Fun Experiments in the Kitchen
Andrew Schloss
Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World’s Brightest Bird
Pamela S. Turner
Faster Higher Smarter: Bright Ideas that Transformed Sports
Simon Shapiro
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
Carlo Rovelli
Because of an Acorn
Lola M. Schaefer and Adam Schaefer
Can you imagine if every scientist could be a little bit more like a kid? Certainly we would become the best scientists we could be.
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