How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate presents the science behind the headlines - evidence from the natural world, including the polar regions, gathered by scientists from all over the world. The engaging text also shows how young "citizen-scientists" are engaged in classroom and in international programs to learn about and monitor the climate and its changes. The book describes what young people, their families and teachers can do to take action. Climate change is a critical and timely topic of deep concern, told in this book for middle school children and their teachers (and parents) with clarity and hope.
Around the world, teachers, administrators, and parents are looking for age-appropriate materials that scientifically explains to children global warming and its effects. Renowned children's author Lynne Cherry and award-winning photojournalist Gary Braasch have written this book to empower children who will inherit a planet that is changing rapidly. This book provides the education platform to help today's youth understand and effectively fight climate change and transform our world for the better.
The book depicts scientists at work; teaches children the language, methods and process of science; imparts knowledge of technological tools and data collection; provides methods and ideas for school and home projects about weather and climate; and describes and encourages participation in citizen-science programs.
Using "kid-friendly" language, the authors incorporate the work of nearly 45 scientists into easily-understood page-spreads, ranging from scientists working on an icebreaker to learn the secrets of Antarctica, to polar bear studies in the Arctic, to a scientist who studies ancient ocean mud cores. Students are also show-cased - termed "citizen scientists" - who assist in various national conservation programs within their schools
In photographs, text, and graphic presentations, the book shows how each child can immediately reduce their carbon footprint. It inspires them to do so by showing the positive effects of many children learning about climate and working together, with examples of how some already are influencing their communities to change.
The book includes a useful reference section and there is a companion Teacher's Guide with classroom ideas and even more information.
An award-winning children's author and illustrator of more than 30 books, Lynne Cherry wrote the classic The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest eighteen years ago. Nature is a theme prevalent in her later books as well, including Flute's Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush, The Sea, The Sky and The Mangrove Tangle, and How the Groundhog's Garden Grew.
Gary Braasch, a photojournalist for over 30 years, takes the photos illustrating nature articles for such magazines as National Geographic, Audubon, Smithsonian and Scientific American. His photo-documentation of global warming science was the basis for his recently published climate book for adults, Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World (University of California Press).
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Excerpts from Selected Book Reviews
". . . The topically organized text is informative and accessible, explicit in its message, positive in tone and particularly useful in its broad array of examples and suggestions for student involvement in both inquiry and solutions. . . . A must for school libraries, and science teachers may want copies of their own." STAR Kirkus Reviews (March 2008)
"Meant to be like a youth version of Braasch's Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming Is Changing the World, this beautifully photographed global guide offers a look at how research in diverse fields leads to an understanding of the warming climate - and what children and adults are doing about it." STAR Publishers Weekly review (March 2008)
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Book Details
Published by Dawn Publications (March 2008)
Hardcover, colour, 66pp
ISBN: 978-1584691037