MOWMT March 7: Betsy Ellor Pairs STEM and SEL
STEM Stories With An SEL Heart
By Betsy Ellor
If you’ve been writing picture books long you know there’s a strong market for STEM children’s books with a special desire for books that teach engineering and technology. There are some amazing non-fiction STEM books out there, but what about informative fiction books with an emotional hook that brings readers back again and again? This is exactly what I set out to do with my book, My Dog Is Not A Scientist.
Before I talk about my book and the mentor texts I used, let me clarify for anyone who may not be familiar. SEL (Social Emotional Learning), is a critical component of elementary school education and it’s about acquiring and applying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and the social awareness needed for school, work, and life success.
My Dog Is Not A Scientist is the story of a young scientist who wants to win a science fair but her chaotic dog keeps ruining all her experiments. It was inspired by a day spent teaching my son a pre-school level understanding of the scientific method while my dog stuck her nose in everything. As the writing developed, reading mentor texts, like the ones below, brought the emotional arc of the story into focus. Thinking about SEL concepts I realized that the scientific method is a way to solve problems and what are kids really learning how to do emotionally at this age but solve problems? Resilience and creative problem-solving are two SEL skills that go hand in hand with the scientific method. Viola! An SEL/STEM match made in heaven.
Here are 4 other picture books that combine STEM information with an SEL heart.
Pearl has been wanting to build a sandcastle all summer and on her last day, she brings her robot (and her coding skills) to the beach to accomplish her goal. It’s a great introduction to coding, but as readers, we are emotionally invested in Pearl’s repeatedly thwarted goals. Pearl uses brainstorming, iterative thinking, and resilience to reach her STEM goal, but those skills directly connect to the SEL tenants of responsible decision-making and self-management.
Meesha likes making things but has a hard time making friends. Then one day her love of designing toy friends creates an opportunity to connect to real friends when they build collaboratively. This is a great book for introverted or shy kids who may not feel comfortable in big, noisy groups. In addition, the story shows the importance of collaboration as part of design. Collaboration also fosters social awareness and relationship skills (SEL). I love how Meesha’s passion for design and engineering leads to an unexpected solution to a totally different problem. After all isn’t the unexpected how it often goes with both scientific exploration and social situations?
In this classic, Rosie wants to be an engineer, but she faces laughter and ideas that don’t go quite as she had planned. She comes close to giving up but then discovers that nothing is really a failure - it’s just a step on the way to a solution. Persistence is a critical SEL skill for kids to be successful at school. This book teaches persistence, creative problem-solving, and resilience.
This humorous picture book conveys Max's expertly researched plan for going to the grocery store. The SEL heart in this book is less apparent than some of the other books on this list. It comes more from what Max is giving to the readers than what he is emotionally going through himself. Max’s goal in the book is to give kids confidence in adapting to a new environment by sharing the things he’s observed. Max has even made a map of his observations. Observation and research are key STEM skills but the social awareness and self-confidence those skills give Max (and by proxy the child reader) have a deep SEL connection.
If you’re interested in writing a STEM picture book, a great way to find the emotional hook is to explore potential SEL connections. It will help give your story a unique emotional resonance, give teachers a second reason to pull your book off the shelf, and enhance readers investment in the STEM information they are learning. These and other mentor texts are a great way to see how that’s done.
PRIZE: Betsy Ellor will be giving away a Critique or Free book to one lucky winner.
BIO: An interior designer by day, Betsy Ellor lives near the beach in a house filled with color and chaos.
When not at her desk, she’s usually either hiking, hunting for shells, or chasing either her son or dog. She’s the editor for the anthology Heroic Care and the author of Sara Crewe a family musical that has been performed across the US, and the picture book, My Dog is NOT a Scientist from Yeehoo Press.
You can connect with her on all the socials at linktr.ee/betsyellor
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