What’s cooler than a geodesic tent? Igloos! (They have the same basic overall shape). Also cool: learning that the straight lines of their family tent’s triangles and an igloo’s square-ish blocks of snow are arranged to make surfaces that are rounded. What’s hot? Climbing sand dunes in summer. Mallory’s seven-year-old twin sister, Melody, enjoys the heat. Mallory? Not so much.
Mallory and his Dad head back down the dune while his Mom and sister 
continue their upward trek. In the shade of a small bush, Mallory discovers more than cooler sand as he settles into a little trench that his dog Rufus helped to dig. When Mallory and his father visit the local Indiana Dunes police station to turn in their find, they learn why some dunes are called “living.”
Our main focus of BioFables is on illuminating STEM principles through entertaining stories. However, we need to emphasize that STEM knowledge and, especially, applying STEM in the real world require a balancing Humanities perspective. Science and Humanities represent the two sides of practical human learning, left-brain (analytical) and right-brain (creative).
This is why we are building several tools to help you determine the value of each BioFables book’s STEM and Humanities content in selecting which BioFables books to give to your young readers:
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- Outline of all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Knowledge Gateways, Subjects and Topics
- Outline of all Humanities Knowledge Gateways, Subjects and Topics
- Table of STEM and Humanities learning topics by Chapter
The first outline presents a summary of all the STEM Knowledge Gateways (or branches, if you prefer), Subjects and Topics occuring in Sand Sack. This will give you an overvew of the entire book’s STEM lessons that are woven into the Sand Sack story.
The second outline provides the same information for the Humanities lessons.
The table of STEM and Humanities places the combined learning topics into the specific chapter where it occurs. We’re in the process of updating each book’s topic reference tables. The table shows the breadth of each book’s content, identified by chapter. Subjects and topics of the middle column appear in bold, followed by abbreviated versions of their Knowledge Gateway(s) in parentheses. The table should be helpful in discussing each book as your children progress through the chapters. Follow the links for further investigation. Child-friendly sites appear in orange.
Want to make things even more interesting? Learn about taking the BioFables Challenge.
Please be aware that subjects and topics are unique to each book, so the following outlines do not reflect a complete list of subjects and topics within any category.
Thanks for your patience as we build these resources for you.
Science Content: Entire Book 3, Sand Sack
Branches and sub-branches in Book 3:
- Biology: Microbes/Bacteria; Plants; Animals; People
- Chemistry: Molecules; Elements; Reactions; Forms; Functions
- Physics: Heat and Temperature
- Earth, Space Science: Geography; Geology; Environment, Astronomy
- Math: Arithmetic; Geometry
- Technology: Physics (Mechanics; Optics)
- Engineering: Architecture (Physics; Math)
Specific subjects and topics appear in the right column, next to their respective branches and sub-branches.
| BRANCHES/SUB-BRANCHES |
SUBJECTS AND TOPICS |
| BIOLOGY | Life and living things |
| Microbes/Bacteria | Bacteria that don’t need oxygen (anoxic)? Sure, those extremophiles living in bogs. |
| Plants | Insect-eating plants get even by using insects for food |
| Don’t even try to walk directly on a bog (which is mostly sphagnum (peat) moss) | |
| Quaking bogs shiver and shake when someone walks over them on a boardwalk | |
| Animals | The food chain isn’t made of metal |
| People | The case for protecting eyes from the sun’s damaging rays |
| Oh, my aching muscles |
|
| CHEMISTRY | Substances, their structure, behavior, interactions |
| Structure | Make round, 3-D shapes, such as geodesic domes, using only triangles with straight lines; similar chemical structures are called Bucky Balls |
| Function | pH: Bogs with sphagnum moss are acidic (pH 3-4) compared with water (pH 7) |
| PHYSICS | Properties and nature of matter and energy |
| Heat, Temperature | Water’s cooling effect: evaporation! |
| EARTH, SPACE SCIENCE | Related to planet Earth and beyond |
| Geography | Continents, countries, oceans and other waters, and their features |
| Locations | Indiana Dunes, Mt. Baldy, Mississippi Palisades |
| Geology | Earth’s physical structure, substance, history, processes |
| Glaciers | Melting ice masses (glaciers) scraped rock, creating sand |
| Water table, bog | Bogs get their water only from rain, not underground rivers or the water table |
| Dunes | Living dunes move over time; they also sing and squeak |
| Environment | Physical, chemical and biological conditions that impact people, animals, plants and microbes |
| Erosion |
Natural, human impact |
| Habitats | People can preserve and restore natural homes of plants and animals |
| Wind | Plants bend and dunes move with the direction of the wind |
| Astronomy | Why is daylight so much longer in the summer than in the winter? |
| MATH | Numbers, quantities and analysis |
| Arithmetic | Counting, adding multiplying |
| Geometry | Can you arrange a bunch of triangles so they make a curve? |
| TECHNOLOGY | Tools (products) and techniques using science |
| Physics: Mechanics | Structures: Igloos, geodesic domes |
| Chemistry: Function | Fuel cells vs. gasoline for cars |
| ENGINEERING | Application of technology |
| Architecture |
Building sand castles: Wet or dry sand works better? |
Sand Sack Humanities Content
Humanities Branches and sub-branches in Sand Sack:
- Society: Government; Public Behavior
- Language: Sounds and Spelling; Word Derivations; Traditional Sayings; Classic Literature
- History: Times/Eras; Locations
- Health: Aging; FEAST; Physical
- Arts: Writing; Play on Words; Drawing; Singing;
- Life Skills: Planning Ahead; Safety, Security, Privacy; Avoiding Disease; Outdoors; Observing Surroundings
- Work/Careers; Role Models: Police Sergeant; Park Ranger
The left column of Sand Sack Table 2 highlights the major Humanities branches in light green, with their associated sub-branches indented below the major branch. The right column provides defintions of the major Humanities branches. Brief notes will give you an idea of the specific subjects and topics for each of the Humanities sub-branches.
Sand Sack TABLE 2: Humanities Content
| BRANCHES/SUB-BRANCHES | SUBJECTS AND TOPICS |
| SOCIETY |
Community, Culture and People |
| Government |
Local police sergeant locks found items in a vault until owner is located, signs official statement |
| Public Behavior |
Park rangers respond to impolite guest |
| LANGUAGE | Means of communication |
| Sounds and Spelling | 4 N 6? Mallory didn’t understand either! Forensics |
| Melody learns that animals prey on each other, not pray | |
| Word Derivations | Sol and stice (Latin) sun stopped (longest and shortest days); Equi equal and nox night (Latin) |
| Vernal (Latin) the spring season | |
| Forensics (Latin) forum |
|
| Traditional Sayings | Dad says, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse” |
| “Nobody learns when they’re talking, only when they’re listening” | |
| “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing” | |
| “Where there’s life, there’s hope” (for improvement) | |
| “Everyone out of the pool” What if there’s no pool? | |
| “Finders keepers, losers weepers” mostly doesn’t apply | |
| Classic Literature | Dad compliments Mallory, calls him Sherlock |
| HISTORY | Information about the past |
| Times/Eras | Buried treasure, lost since the Great Depression |
| Locations | The role glaciers played in forming Indiana Dunes |
| HEALTH | Level of well-being |
| Aging | Grandpa realizes his excess weight and little exercise is limiting his activities |
| FEAST | The twins remember Mom’s Food Exercise Attitude Sleep Timing philosophy |
| Physical | Sunglasses protect eyes from sun’s damaging effect |
| Going to bed at the same time is healthy, but not much fun when it’s still light outside | |
| Muscles feel sore the day after unaccustomed exercise | |
| ARTS | Creative skills and their expression |
| Writing | Mom’s poem is “almost as good as Dad’s”? “We all have poems in us,” Mom says |
| Play on Words | Getting the family’s black labrador to wear sunglasses would make quite a spectacle |
| “Vernal means spring, and it’s time to SPRING into bed,” Mom says | |
| Man-eating or boy-eating plants? | |
| Drawing | Drawing a geodesic dome tent helps to remember its shape |
| Sergeant shows how something buried near the base of a sand dune can be lost over time as winds cause the sand to shift | |
| Ranger Ted draws a simple food chain for Melody | |
| Dad draws dunes holding four colored pencils together | |
| Singing, Music | What do “Twinkle, twinkle little star” and “Baa, Baa Black Sheep” have in common? |
| Creating, Building Things | Mom creates a clock calendar with each number representing a month and stickers to represent the four seasons |
| A sand castle challenge. Who will build the winner? | |
| LIFE SKILLS | Practical abilities for attending to everyday needs |
| Planning Ahead | Setting up a new tent before a camping trip |
| Safety, Security, Privacy | Sergeant agrees to Dad’s request for no publicity on the discovery for himself and his family |
| Avoiding Disease | A Ranger assures Mom that local squirrels don’t carry rabies, but bats and woodchucks do |
| Outdoors | Mallory wants to compare a Dunes tree graveyard with the one that the family saw at Yellowstone |
| Mallory discovers his map-reading skills | |
| Observing Surroundings | Bushes snag Rufus’s leash where Mallory couldn’t |
| WORK/CAREERS; ROLE MODELS |
Productive activity to earn an income or give back to society |
| Police Sergeant | Sergeant at a local police station |
| Park Ranger | Park Rangers have many differet roles indoors and outdoors |
Sand Sack Values/Behaviors Content
Values Branches and sub-branches in Sand Sack:
- Morals/Ethics: Honesty/Truth; Doing the Right Thing
- Emotions: Sense of Humor; Calm Reasoning; Competitiveness; Impetuousness; Awareness of Consequences; Serenity; Need for Recognition
- Mind: Reasoning; Intuition; Sense of Wonder; Visualization
- Body: Aging Well; Physical Health
- Learning/Knowledge/Skills: Acquiring Knowledge; Analytical Thinking; Sharing Knowledge; Eliciting Knowledge
- People: Parental Responsibility; Judgmental; Concern for Others; Respect; Proper Assertiveness; Hospitality; Generosity
- Planet: Research; Erosion; Respect for Earth, All Things Living on It
Sand Sack TABLE 3: Values/Behaviors Content
| BRANCHES/SUB-BRANCHES | DEFINITIONS; SUBJECTS AND TOPICS |
| MORALS/ETHICS |
Internal character, beliefs |
| Honesty/Truth | Mallory shows Dad why the rock was so interesting |
| Doing the Right Thing | Dad tells Mallory they need to report his discovery to the local authorities |
| Mom says “finders keepers losers weepers” doesn’t apply | |
| Dad will be discussing Mellory’s “heist” of the 9 lb rock with the Dunes’ police sergeant | |
| EMOTIONS | Feelings, sentiment, intuition |
| Sense of Humor | Dad teases Mom about her advice to get more exercise |
| Mallory and Dad are happy that dogs don’t talk | |
| Calm Reasoning | Jumbled thoughts at first prevent Dad’s calm reasoning about what to do with Mallory’s unexpected “find” |
| Mallory’s questions bring Dad’s jumbled thoughts back to reality | |
| Competitiveness | Melody and Mallory both feel that their sibling knows something they don’t |
| Impetuousness | Mallory races after Rufus, who bolts from his leash |
| Awareness of Consequences | Mallory knows he’s in trouble when Dad finds the rock |
| Serenity | Dad enjoys resting and enjoying the surroundings while Mallory cools off in moist sand |
| Need for Recognition | A visitor rudely interrupts the park’s rangers program |
| MIND | Rational, theoretical, analytical thinking |
| Reasoning | Mallory wonders how something round can be made up with just straight lines |
| Mallory compares the dunes’ “tree graveyards” with Yellowstone’s, discovers dry and swampy kinds at the dunes | |
| Mallory remembers that wet sand stays together; good for building sand castles | |
| Intuition | Grandpa’s mention of unexpected wind leads Melody to think Grandpa knows more than he lets on |
| Dad suspects what’s in the canvas sack that Mallory found buried in the sand | |
| Sense of Wonder | Melody wonders how the dunes got there |
| Visualization | Melody thinks a food chain is a chain made out of food |
| BODY | Health, bodily strengh and movement |
| Aging Well | Grandpa knows he wouldn’t be able to climb dunes or be comfortable sleeping in a tent |
| Overall Health | Mom’s “FEAST” is an easy path to good health |
| Exercise helps pump oxygen to your brain | |
| LEARNING/KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS |
Pursuit and acquisition of understanding, wisdom, capabilities |
| Acquiring Knowledge | Mallory is impressed by the police seargent’s reasoning |
| Melody learns that bacteria can live in oxygen-less bogs | |
| Mom and Dad encourage constant observing and learning | |
| Analytical Thinking | The police sergeant suspects why the canvas sack was buried in the dune |
| While Melody’s reasoning about bogs and water tables wasn’t quite right, she learns some new facts | |
| Sharing Knowledge | Grandpa says an igloo-shaped tent is more stable than other designs |
| Mom uses a clock and stickers to explain solstice | |
| Mom and Dad explain how glaciers and wind made sand dunes | |
| Melody learns from Ranger Lisa what makes a bog a bog | |
| Mom and Dad help their twins understand human nature and how to react in certain situations | |
| Mom tells Melody that different ways of writing poems help to understand your feelings | |
| Eliciting Knowledge | Mom shows the twins how to look at their tent’s design |
| Mom’s and Dad’s questions help understand how dunes become “living” | |
| Dad helps Mallory figure out how trees died in the sand dunes | |
| PEOPLE | Regard for, and relationships with, humankind |
| Parental Responsibility | “The reward is in doing the right thing,” Mallory’s Dad says when the sergeant suggests a reward |
| Oops. Dad forgets about poor Rufus in the hot car | |
| Mom agrees with Dad’s privacy request to the sergeant | |
| Mom encourages sharing reward, rather than competing, to making the biggest, best sand castle | |
| Dad confronts Mallory about the big rock | |
| Judgmental Attitude | Mom says not to be critical when people’s choices may be different from your own |
| Melody softly calls her Dad and brother “wimps” when the dune gets too hot for them…but Mom hears | |
| Concern for Others | Dad hopes Grandpa would take better care of his health |
| Mom asks Dad how Mallory and Rufus are doing | |
| Respect | Mom thanks Ranger Lisa and moves on, noticing other guests waiting to learn about the bog |
| Proper Assertiveness | An attendee at the park ranger program addresses a rude visitor |
| Gratitude | Mallory thanks the sergeant for free ice cream coupons |
| Mom is touched that Grandpa selected a nearby place that is (kind of) similar to where she grew up | |
| Hospitality | Grandpa invites the Maloneys to dinner, and they bring Grandpa his own portable “salad garden” to grow his own healthy greens |
| Generosity | Mallory gives his sister a small rock with holes the right size for pencils |
| Melody asks for an extra magnifier to give to her brother to investigate bugs and things | |
| Mississippi Palisades is the site of Grandpa’s next monthly mini-vacation gift | |
| PLANET | Earth’s natural environment: living organisms, water, surface, subsurface, atmosphere |
| Research | The Maloneys drive their new experimental fuel car to the Indiana Dunes |
| Erosion | Walking on dunes causes sand to tumble down |
| Respect for Earth, All Things Living on It | Melody comforts a squirrel that escapes being lunch for a hawk |
| Melody changes her mind and agrees squirrels shouldn’t be kept in cages as pets |
- People: Parental Responsibility; Judgmental; Concern for Others; Respect; Proper Assertiveness; Hospitality; Generosity
- Biosphere: Research; Erosion; Respect for Earth, All Things Living on It
Sand SackLIST 4: Combined STEM, Humanities and Values
Major Branches and Sub-branches Appearing in Sand Sack
| SCIENCE | HUMANITIES | VALUES |
|
BASIC
HYBRID
APPLIED
|
BASIC
HYBRID
APPLIED
|
BASIC
HYBRID
APPLIED
|
Sand Sack Table 4: Combined Science, Humanities and Values
Sand Sack Table 4 identifies Sand Sack content by chapter. Follow the links for further investigation. Links to child-friendly sites appear in orange.
| CHAPTER: Page Numbers; RESOURCE LINKS |
CHAPTER TITLES; Branches/Sub-Branches |
| Helpful Hints | |
| Indiana Dunes |
|
| Chapter 1: Pages 1-4 |
A Tent Shaped Like an Igloo |
| Twins Melody and Mallory discover that their dome-shaped tent is made from big and small triangles. |
|
| Chapter 2: Pages 5-11 |
Camping in the Sand |
| A clock has twelve hours, the year has twelve months: an easy way to remember the changing lengths of daytime, and the extremes of the solstice and equinox. |
|
| Chapter 3: Pages 12-23 |
A Generations-Old Secret Uncovered |
| A “living” dune covers a long-buried sack and Rufus (good doggie) helps Mallory and his Dad dig it out. What do you think is in the sack? |
|
| Chapter 4: Pages 24-26 |
How Do Sand Dunes Happen? |
| Glaciers scraping rocks grind them to sand; over time, winds blow the sand into hills (dunes). The Maloney family enjoys an ice cream treat for doing the right thing. |
|
| Chapter 5: Pages 27-32 |
Spongy Ground and Bug-Eating Plants |
| Extremophile microbes can live in bogs, even with no oxygen available. Moss up to six feet thick covers the bog’s surface, making the boardwalk feel like you’re walking on a bouncy mattress. |
|
| Chapter 6: Pages 33-38 |
Blowouts and Tree Graveyards |
| Mallory and his Dad learn that “tree graveyards” can be hollowed out areas with dry sand, or wet and marshy like the family saw in Yellowstone. |
|
| Chapter 7: Pages 39-42 |
Learning about the Dunes (and even more about Human Nature) |
| After trading stories about what they learned about bogs and blowouts, the Maloney family learns how “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing” during the evening Park Ranger program. |
|
| Chapter 8: Pages 43-46 |
Aches and Pains |
| Walking along the sandy beach made “music” (except for Rufus: soft paws). A day to take it easy after climbing the dunes. |
|
| Chapter 9: Pages 47-51 |
A Rock is NOT a Stone |
| Mom writes a poem about singing sands; Mallory can’t resist the fascinating (heavy!) souvenir that he can examine more closely with the new magnifier his sister gave him. |
|
| Next Adventure: Pages 52-54 |
|
| The Maloney family discuss the rock cliffs they’ll visit next. Mallory and his Dad make a trip back to the State Park to learn the consequences of removing the nine-pound rock. |
|