“Pretend the window is a screen,” said poet Susan Blackaby at this morning’s #alsc14 session “The Poetry of Science.” People spend so much time with their eyes glued to their electronic devices that they’re liable to miss what’s going on in their environment. Imagine if people gave as much concentration to nature as they give to their computer screens. How many hawks would they see? What other wonders would they encounter?
Author Margarita Engle joined today’s panel, discussing how she uses both poetry and her science background to advocate for animal and environment conservation. As a child, Engle said, “No curiosity was too small for concentration.” She made the point that the phrase “the spirit of wonder” is applicable to both science and poetry. Because of this commonality, it’s possible to interest poetry loving kids in science phenomena and give science fans the chance to experiment with language.
Poet Janet Wong said that it’s easy–and vital–to create science literacy moments in the classroom and at the library. The key is to be bold. “Science and technology are accessible to people if they’re not afraid.” As gatekeepers of information, teachers and librarians should embrace the responsibility to expose kids to all subjects. Linking language and science may be a key way to make science more approachable. It doesn’t even have to be an elaborate lesson: just a few science literacy moments a week will have a lasting impact on children’s lives.
Check out these great resources:
Jill’s post about Thursday’s edition of “The Science of Poetry”
Presenter Sylvia Vardell’s Poetry for Children blog
Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong’s blog and book, The Poetry Friday Anthology.
Janet Wong
Loved what Margarita Engle said about her childhood passion of climbing a tree and sitting up there, reading a book; we’ve all seen images of that but I never have met someone who actually did it!
Sylvia Vardell
Thank you for this wonderful summary, Karen! What a great audience we had– and how inspiring it always is to hear from the poets– particularly about the interesting intersection of science and poetry. Next: look for our article, “The Symbiosis of Science and Poetry” in the winter issue of CHILDREN AND LIBRARIES!