Scientific Thinking in Children's Books

By Kourtney LaFavre
As a teacher, one of my top priorities is to help children retain their innate sense of wonder and develop their thinking skills. I want students to leave my classroom with the abilities to notice the things around them, ask questions, make predictions and observations so that they can think for themselves. So in my early elementary classrooms, you will hear me asking students many questions:

• How did this come to be?
• Why is the water flowing that way?
• How do you think that was built?
• Why is this happening?
• How do you think this works?

I want to point my students in the right direction, but ultimately let their brains do the work and spark those connections in their brains. As a writer, I want to encourage my readers to use their brains too! So when writing IF SUN COULD SPEAK, I had two goals. The first was for Sun to share facts, history, and myths about it's existence. Here's an example of how Saki Tanaka, the illustrator, incorporated that info into a spread.

And the second goal was to invite and encourage readers to wonder about the world around them, ask questions, and make discoveries. In the next two spreads, you can see how Saki did an incredible job of incorporating great visuals to represent curiosity and wonder. And the text is inviting readers to start thinking like a scientist.

These types of STEM picture books are wonderful tools in the classroom and at home, to spark discussions about the key pieces to scientific thinking: observation, making predictions, forming ideas, and finding possible solutions. And there are so many wonderful books that demonstrate and encourage scientific thinking. Main characters that ask a lot of questions and complete their own science experiments, like ADA TWIST SCIENTIST (and all the other characters from THE QUESTIONEERS SERIES by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts) celebrate their characters for their thinking abilities.

And two more delightful books that are wonderful mentor texts for incorporating scientific thinking are THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING by Ashley Spires, and WHAT DO YOU DO WITH AN IDEA by Kobi Yamada and illustrated by Mae Besom

I hope these examples are helpful for you in writing and creating STEM books that encourage and celebrate scientific thinking. Here's some further reading and more suggestions: https://kidminds.org/books-to-inspire-kids-to-think-like-scientists/
Thank you for stopping by! Happy reading and writing!

Kourtney is a mom, author, and educator with a BS degree in Childhood Studies and 20+ years experience working with children and families in classrooms and other community programs. As a life-long learner she’s always questioning and  watching the world with glittering eyes, on the lookout for beautiful and amazing things. In her rural community, Kourtney has created opportunities for children and families, such as story times, discovery hours, a learning garden, and homeschool co-ops. Being a SCBWI member and graduate of CBA helps fuel her passion for quality children's literature.  Kourtney's debut picture book IF SUN COULD SPEAK was released in 2020. She is a blogger and assistant for Children's Book Academy.
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