The Polar Bear Scientists

Follow scientists as they scan the Alaskan wilderness for these magnificent creatures. It is springtime on the North Slope of Alaska, and the U.S. Geological Survey team—the polar bear biologists Kristin Simac and Mike Lockhart—is gearing up for polar bear capturing. During a capture, all information is collected on the sea ice. The scientists locate bears from a helicopter, tranquilize them, give them tattoo ID numbers and tags, and collect data such as height, weight, and body fat measurements and samples such as blood, hair, feces, and even teeth. All this information goes into a large database studied by scientists such as Drs. Steven Amstrup and George Durner, the former and current leaders of the Polar Bear Research Project. For more than forty years, scientists have been capturing bears in order to get information. What has this information been telling scientists about polar bears and global warming?

The Manatee Scientists: Saving Vulnerable Species

In The Manatee Scientists, John Reynolds does an aerial count of manatees from the Florida sky; Lucy Keith spends a weekend rescuing manatees trapped in a dam in Senegal; and Fernando Rosas takes the author on an Amazonian boat trip, looking for a young manatee he released back into the wild, with emotional results. These scientists are working hard to save manatees: docile, large sea mammals who are eaten in some parts of the world, feared in others, and adored in still others. But factors such as human encroachment, disease, environmental hazards, and being hunted are causing their numbers to decline: they are an endangered species, in need of help

Writing To Explore: Discovering Adventure in the Research Paper

There are few things students dread more than the research paper. And there are few things teachers dread more than reading them. Too often these papers are simply regurgitated encyclopedia entries. After reviewing many dry research papers, fifth-grade teacher David Somoza began to experiment with an adventure writing model, based on the books written by Peter Lourie. Adventure writing integrates nonfiction and fiction and motivates students to write with imagination, curiosity, and a hunger to learn everything about their topic.

Now, in Writing to Explore, David and Peter demonstrate how you too can teach adventure writing. The book starts with a solid foundation in the basics of good writing: setting descriptions, writing atmosphere, and character development. The authors then explore the specific elements of adventure writing—from setting the stage to conducting research; from combining history and geography to effectively utilizing technology. The result is an adventure-based paper that is “rooted in real places, supported by facts, and developed with detailed description of images from real locations.” As the authors show throughout the book, this model is more relevant and rewarding for student and teacher alike because the end product combines interesting research and imaginative writing.

Whaling Season: A Year in the Life of an Arctic Whale Scientist

Not all scientists live where they work, harvest their own subjects, or use information passed down from generation after generation of Inupiaq Eskimos to help learn about the bowhead whale. Arctic whale scientist Craig George is the son of children’s author Jean Craighead George, and out on the ice with the whales and the whalers in Barrow, Alaska is where this Arctic whale scientist works. He has studied them for nearly thirty years and the mysteries these creatures hold never fail to amaze him. Join Craig at the top of the world, where the days and nights are long, the people full of stories, and the bowhead whale is at the center of it all.

On the Texas Trail of Cabeza de Vaca

In 1527, the conquistador Cabeza de Vaca set sail for the Spanish territory of “La Florida.” His aim was to explore and colonize an unknown land that stretched from present-day Florida to Texas. The mission met with disaster. In an attempt to sail back to Cuba, de Vaca and his crew crashed near the shores of Galveston Island. From there de Vaca embarked on one of the greatest adventures in history.

Arctic Thaw: The People of the Whale in a Changing Climate

For thousands of years, Iñupiaq Eskimos have hunted bowhead whales from the sea ice. Now this hunting platform is becoming thinner and more dangerous.  The Iñupiaq Eskimos live in a warming land-the North Slope of Alaska. As global climate change continues to heat up the Arctic, the Iñupiaq culture faces an uncertain future.

Hidden World of the AZTEC

In 1521 the world of the Aztec came to a sudden and brutal end.  Hernan Cortes, the Spanish cr, captured Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztecs, which signaled the end of their civilization. Evidence of what Aztec civilization was like continues to emerge from under the streets of the Mexican capital...

First Dive To Shark Dive

Peter Lourie and his 12-year-old daughter Suzanna flew to the wild island of Andros in the Bahamas for a Caribbean adventure.  Suzanna wanted to learn how to scuba dive so she could dive with sharks.  Join Suzanna as she leaves the pool to enter a mysterious inland "blue hole," sees her first barracuda, swims with parrot fish, and dives with sharks.

Tierra del Fuego: A Journey to the End of the Earth
Peter Lourie takes young readers on a journey to the tip of South America, where the Yámana and other Patagonian tribes for thousand of years fished the waters and hunted in the mysterious forests. Tierra del Fuego is indeed the land mystery at the end of the earth...

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