Blog

Advocating for Science Literacy

By
March 9, 2018
Leave a comment

Even though I’ve spent my career focused on literacy, my sister blew my mind a few years back when she mentioned to me the problem with “science literacy” in our country. As an admittedly non-science minded person, this phrase surprised me. The problem with science literacy is that, well, people are illiterate.

You don’t have to look far to see that science illiteracy is an issue. Let’s start with the recent EPA deregulation of coal ash waste. If you want to keep looking, you can start down the path of controversial issues (that shouldn’t be controversial) like vaccinating children and climate change. I balked at a post in a Facebook group recently where a mother asked that we respect her “choice” regarding vaccines.

In my hunt for a good definition of science literacy, I found this one from Discover: “Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. It also includes specific types of abilities.” There’s a lot more to it that you can read about here. There are lots of different definitions, of course, and schools and test-makers define it with a more academic bent.

What strikes me most about Discover’s definition is that it specifies that the knowledge is required for “personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity.” Truly, this applies to every facet of living life in a society. Whether or not you vaccinate, wash your hands regularly, recycle, believe in homeopathic remedies and the “healing” properties of essential oils is based on your level of scientific understanding. Even topics like infant sleep and organic produce are fraught with misinformation, misleading “studies,” and misinterpretation from people who aren’t science literate.

The danger in all of this comes from Dr. Google. I’m astounded when people like me think they know more than someone who’s spent their career in medicine or studying climate change. I’m not saying that a healthy questioning or second opinion is bad, but you still need to know what you’re asking, how to ask it, and of whom you’re asking it.

As a parent, I think about how important science literacy is to my family and to my children. I want them to experiment, to try things, to learn on a basic level. But I also want them to think critically, to look at sources, to make informed decisions in their lives. They need to be able to read, sure, but they really need to be able to reason. Here’s to advocating for science literacy, too.

Blog

Life’s Too Short to Read a Bad Book and Other Advice for Reading with Kids

By
February 13, 2018
Leave a comment

It’s no secret that at Grammatical Art, we’re huge book lovers. Look no further than our “I Heart Books” totes, tees, and prints for evidence. Our book-obsessed leader Natalie has blogged about her massive reading list from 2017 (read her posts here, here, and here for some awesome recommendations), and she has lofty goals for 2018.

As a former (and still passionate) children’s librarian, I’m an advocate for putting books in the hands of kids. The thing is, not just any old book will do, and that’s a misunderstanding that a lot of people have about little kids and reading. I’m not implying that the only acceptable literature for children has a gold seal on it; award-winners are great, but not necessarily for everyone. So I’ve put together some guiding principles for choosing books for the children in your lives.

Here goes:

  • Make reading fun and loving. Try not to ever force a child to sit down and read, especially one under the age of five. Choose snuggly moments and good moods to introduce books rather than mid-tantrum (I’m exaggerating, but you get my point). If they resist you, try another book or try another time. It’s totally okay.
  • Follow the child’s lead. Are they currently mermaid obsessed? In an all-dinosaurs-all-the-time phase? Find books that relate to their interests, and they’ll be more inclined to enjoy them. The same is true of adults, right?
  • Try to flip through a book yourself first before you hand it to a kid (or read reviews of it online if it’s lengthy). This has absolutely nothing to do with censorship (another post for another time) and everything to do with making sure the reading level and material is on par with the child. The artwork might be too scary, the book too wordy, or the content way over the child’s head. You get to be the gatekeeper as the adult. After all, don’t we do this for ourselves when making book selections?
  • It’s perfectly acceptable to start a book and not finish it. It’s also perfectly acceptable for your child to be more interested in holding and playing with the book than reading it, or in the case of older children, flipping through to look at specific pictures or read only certain passages. For kids (especially little ones) the majority of their experiences are new. They’re getting to know what a book is and how it works. All of this is building literacy and it has nothing to do with reading a book cover to cover. Embrace the play!
  • Graphic novels, comic books, ebooks, and audiobooks all count as real books (yes! really!), and they absolutely enhance and develop literacy skills just as “traditional” books do. I can send you research if you’re curious, but I just want to say it once and for all. Adults: they all count. Now let’s move on.
  • Model reading for children. Kids want to be like the important grown-ups in their lives. They want to do things just like you (it’s true!). If they see you reading and enjoying books, they’re more inclined to want to read, too.
  • My cardinal rule for every person in the world: LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO READ A BAD BOOK. You, too, grown-ups! If a kid is disinterested in the book, who cares? Chances are they may come around later (hours, days, weeks, months, years, whenever!), but if they never do, who cares? There’s always another book. Let go of your completion attitude, and let the book go. Forcing children to read something (in a non-school setting, of course), that they hate is only going to make them hate reading and books. Let the book go. Life is just too short. Some books just aren’t that interesting, aren’t that well-written, aren’t that colorful, or aren’t right for some odd reason, and that’s perfectly okay.

We’d love to know what your favorite books were as children. Maybe they’re still your favorites today? How do you go about choosing books for the children in your life or for yourself? Are you guilty of having a completion attitude about books?