Issues in Earth Science

Eww, There's some Geology in my Fiction!"

Can young urban explorer LaRose help her county solve a puzzling environmental mystery?  Find out in 

A True Original by Mary Ibe 

The teacher resources for this story engage students exploring conceptual statistics, ideas essential for any understanding or interpretation of scientific data.

Be sure to also check out past stories and classroom activities in Past Issues.

  

We feature short fiction stories for middle and high school students that illustrate key earth science concepts in the plot of the story.  These are fun but educational stories suitable for the classroom.

Past Issues

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Young urban explorer LaRose becomes a true original when curiosity and imagination involve her and Grandpa Deon in a real environmental science investigation.

 

-- A True Original by Mary Ibe

Teacher's Resources for this story offer exercises in statistical thinking (without invoking complicated math!)

Illustration for A True Original by Autumn Williams

A_True_Original_Artwork-Williams

A True Original

by Mary Ibe

Oh, wow! This is a really good one!” LaRose said, pointing to a wet mound. It looked like a tiny, lumpy smokestack.

“Yeah, that is a nice one, Rosie-bug,” Grandpa Deon said. “You always have been good at finding chimneys.”

LaRose smiled, feeling too old to still be called “Rosie-bug,” but somehow not minding that it was her beloved grandpa calling her that. 

LaRose and Grandpa Deon were keeping up their tradition of hunting for crayfish chimneys after the spring rains. Crayfish chimneys aren’t like the chimneys that go with a fireplace. A crayfish chimney forms when a crayfish digs a tunnel, making little pellet-sized balls of mud out of the soil. They stack these mud pellets outside of their tunnels and the piles end up looking like little chimneys. 




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