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THE WEB BIRTH OF SCIENCE NEWS FOR KIDSby Julie Ann Miller “Coooooooooool!” That’s the most frequent comment received about articles posted on Science News for Kids (www.sciencenewsforkids.org). Reading the students’ input is much more fun than going through the quibbles, alternate theories, or even measured praise that adult readers of Science News send in. Science News For Kids was launched last summer with the goal to promote an interest in science among middle-school children. Science isn’t just what kids do in school or find in textbooks. Every day brings news of intriguing scientific discoveries. To find out about such developments and how they might affect their lives, kids must go to other sources—and we wanted to provide them with attractive, accessible, and reliable information. A Web site targeted to youngsters, ages 9 to 13, was a natural endeavor for Science News to undertake. Science Service, the organization that publishes Science News, also runs science competitions for students, including the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, for middle-school students. Many high school students already read Science News, but that information-dense magazine has less appeal for a younger audience.
Initial planning for the site was done somewhat idiosyncratically by Ivars Peterson, our Online Editor, and me. We collected suggestions from our writers, local teachers and parents, had one advisory meeting with a dozen science educators, and have continued to receive valuable input from science educator Wendy Saul, of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Because we wanted to tie the kids’ site to Science News, one of the first decisions was that it would be updated weekly with news articles about science. Each week, there’s one article researched and written specifically for middle schoolers and two articles that are adapted from the current issue of Science News. Like Science News Online, articles are archived to produce an ever-growing, searchable resource. We decided to include other material to attract kids to the site and created six “zones.” PuzzleZone began with puzzles created by a local middle-school math club under Ivars’ guidance. We also added GameZone, created by Ivars’ high-school-age son, with simple games with science-related content, such as hangman using names of scientists. There’s a LabZone, in which each week is posted an experiment taken, with permission, from a published science-activity book. SciFiZone, hosted by science fiction author Julie Czerneda, encourages kids to think about scientific principles while reading and writing science fiction. ScienceFairZone helps students select topics for and carry out science projects for class or competition. Finally, we conceived TeacherZone as a collection of creative, thought-provoking ways for teachers and parents to use science news in the classroom or the home. Once we had a basic plan, we turned to professional Web site developers even though our budget was limited. This was probably the smartest decision we made. A group called Human Factors International made a rough mock-up of the site and then tested it on boys and girls, grades 6 and 8, from a variety of backgrounds. We watched through one-way glass as each kid explained what parts of science did and didn’t interest him/her and tried to figure out how to find information on the mock site. That experience was extremely valuable in coming up with a logical design for the site. We later showed students two potential styles for the site. Almost unanimously they preferred the one with the more sophisticated color scheme but didn’t want to give up the appealing, active icons that appeared in the other design. For example, the symbol for the SciFiZone is a spaceship in which an alien appears when someone clicks on it. After an initial loud protest, the designer merged the two proposals into a site that both students and adults have found attractive and easy to use. To implement Science News for Kids, we again turned to experts to create a publishing system that enables us to update the site weekly. The publishing system is based on hard experience accumulated during our eight years of running Science News Online. Emily Sohn as chosen to be our writer. She works for us part-time from Minneapolis. Emily’s writing is lively and humorous, perfectly pitched to the age and temperament of our audience. Emily had previously worked for an educational Web site that sent its writers on expeditions around the world, where they posted stories and communicated with students, whose votes directed the writers’ itinerary. Although we have a little budget for travel, Emily still manages to get around and has reported on swimming with sharks in the Caribbean, riding a camel in India, mountain climbing in Yellowstone Park, and running a marathon. Sometimes the news stories are supplemented with pieces called either “News Detective,” in which Emily writes about her experiences researching the story, or “Scientist’s Notebook,” in which she gives a fuller description of how the researcher works. To supplement Emily’s abundant output, we occasionally use others skilled in writing about science for children. Artwork accompanies each article. Sometimes it’s provided by the scientists interviewed, sometimes Emily snaps photos with her digital camera, other times we find it on government Web sites, or use images from illustration disks purchased by Science News.
In an effort to add value for classroom use, each week’s main feature includes a variety of add-ons. There’s a glossary, a word find, a list of recommended Web sites and books, and a list of discussion questions. To promote the site we sent a press release to a wide variety of publications, both print and online—and also personally e-mailed everyone we knew with kids or grandchildren. That campaign netted mentions in USA Today “Hot Sites,” Newsday’s “In the Mix” column, EducationNews.org, and ConnectforKids.org. We also received links from Classroom Connect.org, Locus Magazine Online (science fiction), and SciTechDaily, among others. A second promotional effort is underway, in the hope of reaching more students and teachers before the school year winds down. Science News for Kids was launched on July 23, 2003, and weekly updating began less than a month later, on August 13. Our initial goal was to attract 1,000 visitors per day. We reached that number by September 4. Now, the Web site regularly gets more than 1,500 visitors per day. Since its debut, Science News for Kids has welcomed about 200,000 visitors. The site invites responses from kids, and we receive dozens of positive e-mail messages daily about the articles and other features of the site. Of course, on occasion we learn that an article “sucks.” In addition to sending us comments, many kids take advantage of the opportunity to grade the articles or participate in a weekly poll on a question related to the main article. We, therefore, have data on which articles rated highly among kids and which ones attracted the most attention. Just mentioning all the parts of the site that change every week is exhausting. Working with a part-time Web specialist, Ivars keeps it all on-track, while also bearing responsibility for Science News Online and writing his weekly MathTrek column, which is posted there. Science News for Kids was initially funded by donations from Dow, Honda, and Dupont. We have money for a second year from Honda and Dupont, but are eager to get longer-term funding. If you are thinking of writing for a children’s Web site, our advice is keep stories short and lively but include a lot of substance. Make each story relevant to the kids’ lives and put in a personal touch whenever possible. From the feedback received at Science News for Kids, we find that we’re tapping into kids’ enthusiastic interest in the world around them, and feel buoyed by their exuberance. # Julie Ann Miller is editor of Science News. |
