“Race ya.”
The sun was barely peeking over the horizon at Yellowstone National Park when Melody shouted this unexpected challenge to her twin brother Mallory.
“No fair. You got a head start!”
A head start was exactly what Melody had in mind. She wanted to make sure Mallory didn’t reach Old Faithful before she did. (He didn’t)
If 7-year-old Melody Maloney had been standing anywhere else or 
at any other time, this would have been an ordinary adventure story. But nature has a way of behaving that doesn’t always follow the rules.
What happens when the Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone decides to misbehave? Melody and her twin brother Mallory find out, but no one believes them.
Want to make things even more interesting? Learn about taking the BioFables Challenge.
We are building several tools to help you determine the value of each BioFables book’s three learning categories (STEM, Humanities and Values) content for selecting which BioFables books to give to your young readers. While our main focus of BioFables is on illuminating STEM principles through entertaining stories, applying STEM in the real world requires a balancing perspective of Humanities studies and one’s internal Values. (Science and Humanities represent the two sides of practical human learning:left-brain, or analytical, and right-brain, or creative)
- Whoosh Table 1 is the combined STEM, Humanities and Values content for Whoosh (Book 1), by chapter.
- Whoosh Table 2 shows the STEM content for Whoosh. An at-a-glance bulleted list above Whoosh Table 2 offers a quick look at the branches in bold, followed by their sub-branches appearing in Whoosh. The table itself shows the specific subjects and topics within each major branch and sub-branch.
- Whoosh Table 3 shows the Humanities content for Whoosh. An at-a-glance bulleted list above Whoosh Table 3 offers a quick look at the branches in bold, followed by their sub-branches appearing in Whoosh. The table itself shows the specific subjects and topics within each major branch and sub-branch.
- Whoosh Table 4 will show the Values content for Whoosh. An at-a-glance bulleted list above Whoosh Table 4 will offer a quick look at the branches in bold, followed by their sub-branches appearing in Whoosh. The table itself will show the specific subjects and topics within each major branch and sub-branch.
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 finish building these resources for you.
NOTE: Tables of Humanities and Values content for Whoosh are being prepared and will be uploaded as soon as possible.
Whoosh Table 1 is designed to be helpful in discussing each book as your children progress through the chapters. The left column shows the Chapter number, followed by the chapter’s title in green and a quick chapter overview in brown. The middle column shows the chapter’s general Subjects and Topics in bold italics, followed by their major knowledge branches in (parentheses). The right column provides and some links to relevant sites for further investigation, with child-friendly sites in orange.
Whoosh TABLE 1: Combined STEM, Humanities and Values
| CHAPTER | SUBJECTS/TOPICS | RESOURCE LINKS |
| Helpful Hints | ||
|
Chapter 1: |
Geysers (Earth, Space Science) Family relationships (Sociology) | Old Faithful Area Geysers at Yellowstone |
| It felt warm and wonderful when “Old Faceful” steam surrounded Melody, but even a few stray droplets stung and left red spots her twin brother’s bare skin. | ||
| Chapter 2 Old Faithful Behaves |
Food and nutrition; Tai Chi exercises (Health); Microbes/bacteria (Biology); Wyoming and Chicago (Earth) | Microorganisms |
|
Mom’s graceful yoga “dance” keeps time with the erupting geyser, with Mom and geyser both earning the applause of other visitors. |
||
|
Chapter 3 |
Paint pots; mud pots; geysers (Earth); Sounds and spelling (Language) | |
| A nature trail like no other…bubbles and burps, hissing and splashing… unexpected colors that belonged to fields of wild flowers, not water and mud. | ||
|
Chapter 4 |
Drawing (Arts); Geysers; Hot springs; Fumeroles; Paint pots; Volcanoes; Caldera (Earth); Hydrogen sulfide (Chemistry); Word derivations; Classic poetry (Language) | Geysers (Wikipedia) How Volcanoes Work Types of Yellowstone Geysers |
|
Dr. Ethyl reveals some of the mystery of what’s going on just under the boardwalk as the Maloney family walks the planks a second time. |
||
|
Chapter 5 |
Water molecules; Steam (Chemistry); Comparing big and little things (Math) | |
|
Water and steam: same H2O. BUT…how about that huge difference in distance between water and steam molecules? |
||
|
Chapter 6 |
Geysers; Mud pots (Earth); Heat; Pressure; Temperature (Physics); Classic books; Writing/singing; Poems (Language) | |
|
Water, boiling water, steam, superheated water: geysers have all these forms of H2O, but that’s not all. Dr. Ethyl starts with Mallory’s diagram of an underground teapot to explain how geysers work. |
||
|
Chapter 7 |
Bacteria; Extremophiles; Plant metabolism (Biology); Humor (Values); Word derivations (Language); Microscopes (Technology); Creativity (Life Skills) | Extremophiles (Wikipedia) |
|
Could anything live in these brightly colored, steaming water? Would you believe microbes, their colors revealing how hot they prefer their baths? |
||
|
Chapter 8 |
pH; Elements (Chemistry); Dreams for the future (Work) | What is pH? |
|
It’s not only heat that these extremophile microbes love, it’s also the extreme acidity or alkalinity (the other side of the acidity scale). |
||
|
Chapter 9 |
Gratitude (Values) | |
|
Reviewing some of what they learned at Yellowstone with Grandpa Mike, the twins accidentally reveal Melody’s extremophile-like experience. |
||
|
Chapter 10 |
||
|
The twins look forward to “meeting” lots of animals, Mom’s cousin who runs a family farm and driving a special experimental car to Southern Illinois. |
Whoosh STEM Content
Branches and sub-branches in Whoosh:
- Biology: Microbes/Bacteria; Plants
- Chemistry: Structure; Function
- Physics: Heat and Temperature
- Earth, Space Science: Geology; Geography
- Math: Measurements; Comparisons
- Technology: Physics (Optics)
Specific subjects and topics appear in the right column, next to their respective branches and sub-branches.
Whoosh TABLE 2: STEM Content
| BRANCHES/SUB-BRANCHES | SUBJECTS AND TOPICS |
| BIOLOGY | Life and living things |
| Microbes/Bacteria | Living thermometers: Extremophile colors show hot spring temperature |
| Plants | Converting daylight to energy through photosynthesis |
| CHEMISTRY | Substances, their structure, behavior, interactions |
| Structure | What is that awful smell? Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) |
| Same water elements (H2O), different states: liquid, gas (steam) [solid (ice)] | |
| Function | pH: Chemical condition of a solution, from 0 to 14 (H2O = 7, neutral) |
| PHYSICS | Properties and nature of matter and energy |
| Heat, pressure | What do guysers and pressure cookers have in common? Superheated steam! |
| EARTH, SPACE SCIENCE | Related to planet Earth and beyond |
| Geology | Earth’s physical structure, substance, history, processes |
| Geysers | What are geyser ingredients? H2O, molten rock (magma), cracks in solid rock |
| Hot springs | Don’t put your brushes into these paint pots, plan a fun fight in these mud pots, or enjoy a steam bath in a fumerole! |
| Volcanoes, calderas | Volcano: A mountain or hill with a vent that allows hot lava, rock and gases to erupt from the earth’s crust; after the eruption, a collapse causes a depression or caldera |
| Geography | Continents, countries, oceans and other waters, and their features |
| Wyoming, Chicago | Yellowstone is about 1,400 miles west/northwest of Chicago by road and about 1190 by air |
| MATH | Numbers, quantities and analysis |
| Measurements | Size, length and amount, either actual or estimated |
| Comparisons | Rules of thumb help to relate big and little things |
| TECHNOLOGY | Tools (products) and techniques using science |
| Physics: Optics | You can see things with a microscope that are otherwise invisible |
NOTE: The Whoosh Humanities table is not yet complete and the Whoosh Values table is being prepared. These will be modified and uploaded as soon as possible.
Whoosh Humanities Content
Branches and sub-branches in Whoosh:
- Language: Sounds and Spelling; Word Derivation; Classic Books and Literature
- History: Locations
- Arts: Writing; Singing; Ideas
- Health: Exercise
- Work, Careers: Dreams for the Future; Various employment
Whoosh TABLE 3: Humanities Content
| BRANCHES/SUB-BRANCHES | SUBJECTS AND TOPICS |
| Language | Means of communication |
| Sounds and spelling | Guy Sir or geyser? Are there Gal Ma’ams? (Guys and, um Gals?) |
| Word derivation | Celestine Pool looks celestial blue |
| Cyanobacter microbes are named from Greek color greenish-blue | |
| Geothermal: Geo (earth) thermal (heat); Greek “earth heat” | |
| Caldera (circular indentation in the ground): from Spanish cauldron or large circular pot |
|
| Extremeophile microbes love temperature extremes | |
| Classic Books, literature | “Fire burn and cauldron bubble” (Macbeth: Shakespeare) |
| King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, Knights of the Round Table | |
| HISTORY | Information about the past |
| Location | Yellowstone: World’s first National Park, established in 1872 |
| ARTS | Creative skills and their expression, as demonstrated in BioFables |
| Writing | Writing new words to familiar tunes |
| Singing | What do “Twinkle, twinkle little star” and “Baa, Baa Black Sheep” have in common? |
| Ideas | A color-coded thermometer to identify extremophile bacteria presence |
| Naming a small geyser Sir Splashalot | |
| HEALTH | Level of well-being |
| Exercise | Doing Tai Chi in time with eruptions of “Old Faceful“ |
| WORK, CAREERS | Productive activity to earn an income or give back to society |
| Dreams for the future | 7-year-old Melody Maloney: Music, Biologist |
| Melody’s twin brother Mallory: Explorer | |
| Other family members | Agnes Maloney (Mom): Tai Chi Instructor, Wellness Guide |
| Mort Maloney (Dad): Food Chemist | |
| Mike Maloney (Grandpa): Retired software engineer, developer | |
| People in supporting roles | Dr. Ethyl A. Shun: Microbiologist studying extremophiles |
Whoosh Values Content
Whoosh TABLE 4: Values Content
| BRANCHES/SUB-BRANCHES | SUBJECTS AND TOPICS |
| Values | |