Science in the News!

Title: "Finding Dory" prompts fears of a sudden interest in tropical fish pets
Source: NewsELA

Synopsis: This June Disney's "Finding Dory" will hit theaters! Animal welfare activists and pet shop owners fear that once the movie is released people will be very interested in the blue tang fish. The movie's main character is a blue tang fish. The Humane Society has gotten involved in the situation and explained that the blue tang fish grows to be about a foot long and is just not suitable for a home aquarium. Disney has stated that they are working with the blue tang conservationists to preserve these beautiful creatures. Even now, before the movie has been released, people have started to fish for and look for blue tang fish. 

So, the first thing that grabbed my attention with this article is that it had to do with Disney. I love Disney. The second thing that grabbed my attention was the beautiful picture of the blue tang fish. It has been shown that people are mainly drawn to pictures before they even see or read the words around it. Because this article was visually appealing, I had to read more. I quickly realized this article is about the conservation of the blue tang fish. As I read on this article was very easy to read. This article could be categorized under the main topic of biology, but can also be used to describe habitats, ecosystems, and extinction. 

Read the full article here!


Title: A Ninth Planet?
Source: Scholastic Science World 

Synopsis: This article explores the concept of a possible 9th planet that scientists have found orbiting the sun. Since Pluto was not considered a planet anymore because it was so small, the same concern rang true for this planet. It was quickly discovered that "Planet Nine" has a mass 10 times larger than Earth's. "Planet Nine" might just be making its way into our solar system very soon. 

I have heard of "Planet Nine" before and the idea, that after losing a planet we might gain one, has always fascinated me. I'm not big into science, but any new discoveries always peak my interest. Maybe because it's like that shiny new toy that everyone's talking about? This article in particle also drew my attention because at a quick glance, the picture looks like a black hole in space. After more observation, I quickly realized that it is indeed a planet or a celestrial object, not a black hole, in the middle of space. Very obviously, this article pertains to science and more specifically astronomy. Since astronomy has many subtopics such as planets, galaxies, comets, meteors etc., it is very easy to incorporate an article about a possible planet that may be something other then a planet.

Read the full article here!

Since each article is current and relevant to our lives in certain ways, articles are excellent to bring into the classroom. In order to implement articles into the curriculum, it could be used to connect ELA and science. By reading an article, students demonstrate their ELA skills and by breaking apart the topics and associating the information found in an article to these topics, students can demonstrate scientific knowledge and skills.