I am excited to join Alyson Beecher and other friends in this weekly challenge. Finding great nonfiction picture books isn't a challenge anymore, there are so many wonderful books to be read now! The challenge is sharing them with as many people as possible so they can find this wealth of literature to share with our young readers. Thanks to Aly for starting this weekly link-up and thanks to all who join in! See all of the posts at kidlitfrenzy.
Saying you're wrong is hard to do. Imagine scientists and engineers having to do that! Well, usually they don't, since most of their big ideas, inventions, discoveries aren't proven to be incorrect until well after their lifetime. But having to come to terms with the fact what you thought was one thing, was actually something else... can be hard for anyone!
Kathleen V. Kudlinski's series "Boy, Were We Wrong" shows how many of our ideas about something changes over time. Scientists are always working on ideas - old and new - and sometimes they find some misconceptions, er, changes over time.
For example, in her book Boy, Were We Wrong About the Solar System!, how we were wrong about that 9th planet Pluto, which actually turned out to be a dwarf planet. Oops, or, wow, that's new learning! Or how they used to think the heaves were perfect and everlasting. Oh wait, new stars appear all the time. And those other planets? Well, we learned that the sun has spots, the moon has mountains and craters, and... well, to quote Dot the Bunny, "oh, skip it."
So I guess what you're saying is those scientists never had it right? Or... you could show students how thinking is always changing. We're always learning new information that we add with what was already known. Look at how our thinking is growing!
Kudlinski has two books published in this series:
Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs! Boy, Were We Wrong About the Solar System!
illustrated by S. D. Schindler illustrated by John Rocco
And the third one will be published July 7th:
Boy, Were We Wrong About the Weather!
illustrated by Sebastia Serra
This is a great series for your classroom or library!
We are learning new things all the time, which rewires our knowledge about many topics. Great series. Thanks, Michele.
ReplyDeleteThis series looks like something I would really love (and would really love to share with my students. I love learning information that others may be misguided about :)
ReplyDeleteI've not heard of this series, but I love the idea of it! I teach gifted kids, and sometimes it's hard for them to admit they're wrong on occasion. ;-) These books could bring up great conversations about how being wrong can open new doors. I need to check them out!
ReplyDeleteI need to track down these books. Looks like a great series for sure.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, this sounds like a very empowering series that captures the very spirit of what scientific fact means - that facts are not something cast in stone - but a verifiable truth that can be disconfirmed when new information emerge. Amazing! Thanks for introducing us to this series.
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