Acadia Greene wants answers. What happened to the frogs she used to see
at her favorite local pond? Why do leaves change color in the fall, and
why don't evergreen needles do the same? What is the water cycle, and
what is transpiration? How do time zones work, and why does the sun set
at different times in different places within a single zone? How do
germs infect us? Acadia doesn't mean to do science, but she has
questions and her parents refuse to simply give her the answers.
"Conduct an experiment," they tell her. "Use the scientific method." So
Acadia makes hypotheses, designs experiments, analyzes data, and draws
conclusions. Acadia does science.
The author, Katie Coppens writes a recurring column for NSTA's middle
school magazine Science Scope on science and literacy called The
Integrated Classroom.