Hands-On Ecology

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-- Wong's learning activities investigate air, water and land pollution, recycling, and energy conservation. Projects are clearly organized in simple steps and illustrated with black-and-white photographs or drawings. Adult supervision is indicated where needed and a ``Think and Explore'' section poses questions to encourage further research. The role-playing game showing how populations rise and fall with availability of resources should invigorate science classes. However, the approach is choppy, with little sense of context given for the projects. There is no hint of how to dispose of the toxic motor oil recommended for two activities, or of how to find out how plants are turned into products for human use in another. Angela Wilkes's My First Green Book (Knopf, 1991), for slightly younger children, has full-color photographs in step-by-step layouts to illustrate similar experiments and uses more easily obtainable materials. Betty Miles's Save the Earth (Knopf, 1991), for slightly older students, provides much more background, including exciting stories of real people and current addresses to write for more information. Hands-on Ecology will be best used in science classes, where instructors can supplement the activities and offer the advice and support needed for some of them. --Jonathan Betz-Zall, Sno-Isle Regional Library System, Edmonds, WA