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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2008  > May  >
Chemical Education Today
Classroom Activity Connections
Chemistry and Children's Literature: Sun Up, Sun Down
Patricia B. McKean
Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich, CT 06831
Cover
May 2008
Vol. 85 No. 5
p. 622

Abstract
The imagination of adults and children of all ages is captured by changing colors. Everyone needs to apply sunscreen in certain situations. How do we use this fascination with color as a "hook" for the necessity to use sunscreen for skin protection? This article describes a simple hands-on activity that connects the two. The first part of the activity illustrates why we need to wear sunscreen, showing younger children how to use a familiar material—newspaper—to see the strength of the sun. The second part reinforces the first by using ultraviolet (UV) detecting beads to show children as young as preschoolers when they need to use sunscreen. If the UV bead on the child's ring changes color, then it is time to "slip on a shirt, slap on a hat, and slop on some sunscreen". The article also describes a children's picture book Sun Up, Sun Down that can be used along with the activity, and shares additional resources for combining children's literature with science.
Supplement
List and description of standards related to the activity
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Citation
McKean, Patricia B. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 622.
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Keywords
Analogies / Transfer; Applications of Chemistry; Consumer Chemistry; Curriculum; Dyes / Pigments; Elementary / Middle School Science; General Public; Hands-On Learning / Manipulatives; Inquiry-Based / Discovery Learning; Interdisciplinary / Multidisciplinary; Public Understanding / Outreach
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History
Created:
Last Updated:
3/25/2008
3/28/2008
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