Last month I had an email exchange with Molly Bang who wanted to know whether any teachers were using Pamela Turner’s excellent book The Frog Scientist to explore the herbicide atrazine and watershed issues. Everyone who knows Molly’s recent books is aware that she is concerned about environmental issues. I love that this concern goes well beyond her own books. She emailed me about this particular issue after reading this New Yorker article about Dr. Tyrone Hayes, the subject of The Frog Scientist.
I know a teacher in central Massachusetts who does a watershed unit with a combined 4th-5th grade class, and I’m hoping she will tell us more about that unit in the comments below. Pamela Turner, responding to Molly’s email, said she thought watershed issues might come up in middle school and high school science classes. She also mentioned that some recent blog posts have been critical of Dr. Hayes’s work, adding that Syngenta (the company that makes atrazine) has had to admit that they pay journalists to write pieces that discredit him.
What a mess! So the question is, are any of you tackling this in your classrooms? Do you use The Frog Scientist and/or other trade books?
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