Assistant Scientist

Ever since Dinosaur Train has become a staple in Abby's life, she's learned new vocabulary and new concepts from it. We've tried to encourage this by using Dinosaur Train lingo in our daily conversations. Up to about a month ago, this primarily consisted of playing dinosaur games, like "Guess Who I Am?" Player 1 thinks of a dinosaur then gives clues to Player 2 until Player 2 can guess the correct dinosaur. At first, the game was really simple. However, as both Abby and Lee and I practiced, the game has developed into a fairly challenging one.

Then we found a "dead" bee outside on the pool deck. At first, I think I was more intrigued by it then Abby was. I had been following the plight of the honeybees for a while now and so there was something in me that needed to try and help this bee. As gently as I could I picked it up from the shadow of the house and moved it into the afternoon sun. I set it on the grass and sat back to watch it. Of course, my little shadow was right there beside me, so I started talking about the bee to Abby. I didn't know if it was alive and hibernating from the cold or actually dead, but I thought that this could be an interesting teaching moment. So I started to teach.

We discussed the features of the bee - legs, head, eyes, wings, hair, antenna. Since it was so still, we could get right up close to it and really study it. We discussed the color of the bee and the iridescence of the wings. We discussed the problem of dying bees around the world and what pesticides were. We discussed death (she brought it up) and what might happen to the body if it was dead. We discussed the bee's "job" in nature. Then we started to discuss science "things."

So, we got out some science tools - a magnifying glass, Abby's books on nature (with a cool journal space in the back for making observations and collecting leaves and twigs) and one about bees, crayons, some tape and a ruler. We measured the bee, looked up some facts about it, Abby drew a picture of it in her science journal, and she collected a few grass and leaf specimens from around the bee. We also used words like hypothesis (which she totally knows what it means thanks to Dinosaur Train), observations, collection, specimens, facts, experiment, and the greatest scientific word ever: "why?"

Abby's hypothesis was that ants would find the dead bee and carry it back to their colony. Abby seems very intrigued by herd/colony behavior... Anyway, she even drew a picture of ants carrying the large bee to their anthill. Interesting.

Around this time, the bee started warming up. It certainly wasn't dead. It's possible it had run into our windows and then fell into the shadow of our house and thus became too cold to fly. I don't know. I do know that after it warmed up, started to pump up its wings, and crawl to the top curve of a leaf, it stalled. It started rubbing its head and mouth. It stumbled around and fell over several times. We continued to watch while it struggled. I kept thinking of those weird fungi parasite things that take over an insect's brain. Too weird. We watched for a couple more minutes until the bee finally hunkered down and sat there panting. The next day, when we checked on it again, it was gone.

Two weeks later, Shawna and Amber invited Abby to join them on an expedition to test their hypothesis about mima mounds, a strange, and as of yet, unsolved geological occurrence. Shawna and Amber had a hypothesis and wanted to conduct a couple experiments on local mima mounds for their college class. Abby could come if she would be their assistant scientist and help them out. She was too excited to simply say "yes, please." She started jumping up and down too.

It was a warmish, rainy day, and the scientists geared up for their adventure.



Miss Mima Mound Model



Abby using a soil pH tester



Collecting water scum



Taking notes about the mounds



Stopping for a quick lunch in the car



When they came home, Abby showed us her treasures.



Yes, that's three vials of pond scum. One had 4 leaches inside. One had frog eggs. One had fairy shrimp. They also collected some spores, pods, leaves, and one wildflower that was "accidentally" collected by Miss Abby before she was warned not to pick things on the preserve. Oops!

What a great experience for Abby!

I have to wonder though. She's learning all these dinosaur names, terms, and scientific vocabulary now. Will she even remember it? I mean, really? Amber said that in one of her geology classes, in college bear in mind, the students didn't exactly understand what a hypothesis was. So the teacher launched off on a long winded explanation of a hypothesis. Eventually Amber raised her hand and said, "a hypothesis is an idea you can test." It's as simple as that. The teacher praised her for the easy to remember definition and Amber credited Dinosaur Train for the simple line. So here's Dinosaur Train teaching simple science to college geology students. I think it will crack me up to no end if, when Abby gets to college, she can't even remember what a hypothesis is or what type of a dinosaur a Theropod is.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see.