Human Body

STEM Tuesday– The Human Body — Interview with Author Sara Latta

By on February 25, 2020   /   Author Interviews, For Librarians, For Teachers, For Writers, Giveaways, Human Body, STEM Tuesday  

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

 

photgraph of author Sara LattaToday we’re interviewing Sara Latta, author of Body 2.0: The Engineering Revolution in Medicine, among several other titles. The book features modern biomedical engineering challenges, some of the STEM professionals who do it, and people who have benefited from it. (Check out the Kirkus review here! If you subscribe to SLJ or Booklist, you can see additional reviews at those sites.)

Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano: What’s the book about—and what was most important to you in deciding to write it?

Image of book cover of Body 2.0 by Sara LattaSara Latta: Thanks for having me on your blog! Body 2.0 explores the ways in which engineering, science, and medicine are coming together to make some remarkable advances in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, neuroscience, microbiology, and synthetic biology. I begin the book with a brief history of biomedical engineering—arguably the first known example of which was a wooden toe found on an ancient Egyptian mummy—but primarily the book focuses on cutting-edge research and the scientists at the forefront of the research. That was important to me; much of the work I write about hasn’t even reached clinical trials. I wanted to show readers that they could jump into this research at a very exciting time.

 

CCD: Did anything about your sense of what was most important change as you developed the manuscript?

SL: I don’t know if it was most important, but at some point during the interviewing process I came to the realization that telling the story of the ways in which the scientists and engineers came to this point in their research would be really interesting to my readers. Several of them said they initially wanted to be medical doctors because they wanted to help people, but they didn’t have the stomach for it. One was an athlete who was inspired by his own injury; another transferred her love of Sherlock Holmes and detective work to scientific sleuthing. So I decided I had to create a separate section telling their stories.

CCD: What in the book most fascinated or surprised you?

 SL: Well, there was a lot! I’d been fascinated by brain-computer interfaces for several years, and even tried writing a sci-fi YA thriller using that technology a while back (it’s still in a folder on my computer). It’s really astounding how quickly work in the field—and other fields in the book as well—has progressed. I think that the work in synthetic biology holds enormous promise, not just in biomedical engineering but in other fields as well. The New York Times recently published an article about using photosynthetic bacteria to make concrete that is alive and can even reproduce.

CCD: I’d like to ask you a bit about your decisions about addressing ethics in Body 2.0. If I counted correctly, you spotlight three particular areas where scientific investigation and technological advancements raise important issues. Can you say a bit about your decision-making process about how much and what to spotlight, and your lasting impressions of the ethics related to this field?

SL: I told my editor going in to this project that I wanted to highlight some important ethical issues that some of this work raises, and she said “yes, absolutely.” It’s important to think about unintended consequences. I use the example that the discovery of petroleum as a cheap and plentiful source of fuel in the 19th century revolutionized the ways we lived, worked and traveled—and now we are paying the price with a global climate crisis. So I asked the question, what does it mean to be a human being when your brain is in a symbiotic relationship with a computer? Will these new technologies be available only to those who can afford them? One of the pioneers of gene editing recounted being jolted awake by a dream in which Adolf Hitler expressed interest in her work. It made her realize that “the ability to refashion the human genome was a truly incredible power, one that could be devastating if it fell into the wrong hands.”

CCD: As an author, what did you find most challenging about completing this book?

SL: Organizing all of the interviews and research I did for the book! I relied heavily on Scrivener and Evernote to bring it all together.

CCD: Can you say something about how you hope this book might impact readers?

SL: Biomedical engineering is all about improving the quality of life for people with diseases or injuries, whether it’s helping a person with quadriplegia become more independent or growing a bladder for a kid with spina bifida. I hoped to inspire idealistic young people interested in science, medicine, or engineering, who are also interested in making a positive difference in the world.

 

Win a FREE copy of Body 2.0: The Engineering Revolution in Medicine!

Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. The randomly-chosen winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (within the U.S. only) to receive the book.

Good luck!

Your host is Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano, author of National Geographic Kids Ultimate Space Atlas, Running on Sunshine, andA Black Hole is NOT a Hole, among several nonfiction books for kids. As a STEM Education Consultant and co-founder of two STEM education organizations, STEM Education Insights and Blue Heron STEM Education, she develops STEM curricula, supports STEM education research, and provides professional development for teachers. Along with several STEM Tuesday contributors and other great authors, she’ll be participating in NSTA’s Science and Literacy event in Boston this spring. She’ll also be co-presenting with author Cheryl Bardoe.  Grab a sneak peek now, but better yet, stop by and say hello!

 

 

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STEM Tuesday– The Human Body — Writing Tips & Resources

By on February 18, 2020   /   Human Body, STEM Tuesday  

STEM Tuesday CoSTEM Costume Contest

A Place for Primary Sources

Reading the books on this month’s booklist, the following quote from Carla Mooney’s HUMAN MOVEMENT: How the Body Walks, Runs, Jumps, and Kicks jumped out at me:

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org“Primary sources come from people who were eyewitnesses to events. They might write about the event, take pictures, post short messages to social media or blogs, or record the event for radio or video. Why are primary sources important? Do you learn differently from primary sources than from secondary sources, which come from people who did not directly experience an event?” (p 41)

What a great question! Nonfiction authors typically use a mix of both primary sources and secondary sources (which are created after an event and often summarize and synthesize primary sources) in their books. And this month’s booklist provides fodder for a rich discussion about primary sources and how they are used in narrative and expository nonfiction.

 

Primary sources in narrative STEM nonfiction

Young writers may have more experience with primary sources in narrative nonfiction. These sources may include government documents, letters, diaries, and newspapers from a specific period.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgFor a good example of how authors use primary sources in narrative nonfiction, look at Catherine Reef’s FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE: The Courageous Life of the Legendary Nurse, a biography of Florence Nightingale. The book itself is a secondary source. Reef wasn’t alive more than a hundred years ago when Nightingale lived. Instead, Reef’s book analyzes and synthesizes several sources including primary sources, and she identifies these sources in the bibliography. They include Nightingale’s collected writings, her letters from Egypt, and her notes on hospitals and nursing. Can you find others?

 

Authors use primary sources in narrative writing for many reasons. First, they reveal a character’s opinions, feelings, and inner thoughts. For example, using Nightingale’s own writings, we hear her say, “Why have women passion, intellect, moral activity – these three – and a place in society where no one of the three can be exercised?” (pp 5-6) You can tell from this quote that Nightingale wasn’t impressed with the typical gender roles assigned to women of the 1800s.

 

Primary sources also provide sensory details only first-hand observers might know. Reef quotes the cleric Sydney Osborne, who worked with Nightingale in a field hospital saying Nightingale had “‘a face not easily forgotten … pleasing in its smile, with an eye betokening great self possession, and giving when she wishes, a quiet look of firm determination in every feature.’” (Prologue) Unless we had a photograph of Nightingale, this description may give us the only information we have about how she looked. For writers, such detailed descriptions of characters, settings, and events provide the building blocks for writing scenes. And writing in scenes is how we make a book come alive for readers.

 

Activity

Look at the bibliography of FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. What primary sources you can identify? The names of the authors, as well as the publication dates, might give you clues. You can look at the notes (just before the bibliography) to get more information.

 

Primary Sources in Expository STEM Nonfiction

When writing about scientific topics, authors use primary sources too, though their purposes might be different from narrative writers. Primary sources for science books include interviews with scientists, data from experiments, theses, specimens, lab notes, technical reports, patents, and some scientific journal articles if they describe original science research.

 

Let’s look again at Carla Mooney’s HUMAN MOVEMENT: How the Body Walks, Runs, Jumps, and Kicks again. Now turn to pages 93-94 and look for the PS icon. How does using information from the University of Texas scientists’ research add to your understanding of the topic?

 

In science writing, primary sources provide the most current information. This is especially critical since new evidence and discoveries in science upend old ideas all the time. When I was growing up, I didn’t learn that dinosaurs had feathers and are related to birds. Imagine if an author used a textbook from my childhood as a source for information about dinosaurs! They’d get things all wrong. Current information is critical.

 

Fortunately, primary sources like science journals are published several times a year whereas a science textbook may only be updated every few years. For their part, scientists read journals in their field and attend conferences with fellow researchers allowing them to keep up-to-date too. That’s why interviews with scientists can be a wonderful primary source.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgAs one of this month’s books puts it: “For now, enjoy learning about what we do know — and by the time you’ve finished reading, scientists may have learned something new!”

— THE BRAIN: The Ultimate Thinking Machine (Science Comics) by Tory Woollcott and Alex Graudins

 

For more fun, grab some more of this month’s titles, flip to the bibliography, and see what types of sources you can find. Then discuss what you think using primary sources added to the book.

Kirsten W. Larson used to work with rocket scientists at NASA. Now she writes books for curious kids. She’s the author of WOOD, WIRE, WINGS: EMMA LILIAN TODD INVENTS AN AIRPLANE, illustrated by Tracy Subisak (Calkins Creek, 2020), CECILIA PAYNE: MAKING OF A STAR (SCIENTIST), illustrated by Katherine Roy (Chronicle, Fall 2021), along with 25 other nonfiction books for kids. Find her at kirsten-w-larson.com or on Twitter/Instagram @KirstenWLarson.

The O.O.L.F Files

 

 

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STEM Tuesday– The Human Body — In the Classroom

By on February 11, 2020   /   Articles, Common Core & NGSS, Curriculum Tie-in, For Kids, For Parents, For Teachers, Human Body, STEM Tuesday  

STEM Tuesday CoSTEM Costume Contest

 

This month we’re peeling back the layers to take a look inside the human body! In the body, trillions of unique cells work together to form the tissues, organs, and body systems that allow you to run and jump, laugh and cry, and feel pain and joy.

The books we’re highlighting this month dive into how the body works to sustain life. They are a great starting point for different sciences activities and discussions in the classroom. Here are a few to try:

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Science Comic: The Brain – The Ultimate Thinking Machine by Tory Woollcott and Alex Graudins

Another title in this popular graphic novel series that focuses on science topics. Readers will explore the ultimate thinking machine – our own brain! How our brains evolved, how our brain controls our senses, how we remember things, and more.

  • Discuss why it is important to know how your brain works. What modern technologies do scientists use to study the brain? How did scientists study the brain before modern technology? How did this limit their knowledge?
  • Have students build a model neuron. Have students study a picture of the neuron and experiment with different ways and materials to create the neuron model. Use several neurons to model a neural network.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Human Cloning by Kristi Lew 

This title for older readers explores the use of cloning and the depiction of human cloning in science fiction.

  • Have students debate the pros and cons of human cloning. Assign groups of students to each side of the issue and have them research points that support their position.
  • Discuss the concerns over the way genetic advances and technology are being used now and in the future. When does human intervention into the basic genetic code of life go too far?

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Random Body Parts: Gross Anatomy Riddles in Verse by Leslie Bulion and Mike Lowery

With puzzles and fun verse, Leslie Bulion introduces human anatomy to middle-grade readers.

  • Have students choose a body part to research. With the information they learn, students can then create their own human body poetry and puzzles.
  • Have students swap the puzzles they created with classmates to see if they can solve each other’s riddles with the clues provided.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Human Movement: How the Body Walks, Runs, Jumps, and Kicks by Carla Mooney and Samuel Carbaugh

This book delves into how our bodies work when we play sports, dance, and walk. There are plenty of STEM projects, informative sidebars, and fun facts throughout the chapters.

  • Have students pick a type of movement – running, jumping, dancing, etc. Then have them prepare a flow chart that shows how the body creates this movement. What body systems are involved? How does the body know what to do? What actions and reactions occur to create the movement? What forces are involved?
  • What happens when an injury occurs to the body? How does this affect movement? Have students research a common injury such as a broken bone, sprained ankle, pulled muscle, torn ACL, etc. Then have them prepare a presentation on the injury’s affect on the body and movement.
  • Try one of the many STEM activities in the book!

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Carla Mooney loves to explore the world around us and discover the details about how it works. An award-winning author of numerous nonfiction science books for kids and teens, she hopes to spark a healthy curiosity and love of science in today’s young people. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, three kids, and dog. When not writing, she can often be spotted at a hockey rink for one of her kids’ games. Find her at http://www.carlamooney.com, on Facebook @carlamooneyauthor, or on Twitter @carlawrites.

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