WTAF??? My Y2 child has come home with the following in a reading book...

[HeavyBoots]

Astronauts who travelled to the moon needed to wear heavy boots to ensure they didn't float off into space.

This is a reading book (Ginn 360 L7), on transport, in a non-fiction section on space travel.

I have put something in the reading record, but how, how, how could a major educational publishing company let that get past them??? Do we not have science education any more? Arrggghhhh!!!!

You didn't really mention this in the reading record did you?
OK, so they wouldn't actually float off and keep going and going off into space....but this book is aimed at 5/6/7 year olds learning to read...personally I wouldn't be that worried about the absolute accuracy of factual explanations. Given the level of vocabulary aimed at the reading age this book is for..maybe it would have been too complex to explain it in more detailed language... and if nothing else, it could prompt discussion between you and your child if you felt particularly inclined to point it out.

Write to the publishers?

I listen to reading in my dd's classroom and one of the parents reviews the books in the reading record. "if Mrs May had kept her dog on the lead, he wouldn't have got lost".

I thought they did . Would they no float if wearing slippers?

Ha, ha, I thought they held them down too!!!

Reminds me of a book dd had last year (another Ginn 360) that was about TV production and making a film, all it spoke about was Video Cassettes, dd didn't have a clue what one of them was!!!

The moon has a gravitational field. If you drop a feather on the moon it will fall down. In fact, because the moon doesn't have an atmosphere a feather and a hammer dropped from the same height will hit the ground at the same time.

Gravity is only 1/6 as strong, so you can jump around 6 times higher than on earth but not high enough to put you into orbit!!!

Heavy boots is actually the punchline of a physics joke about philosophy students. I think I learned enough science to understand this in primary. I don't see the merits in telling children stuff that's actually false just because the vocabulary is easier...

I did write in reading record. Oh dear, have I revealed myself to be a loon less than a week into term?

You are not alone - I have put comments in as well. I also put a comment about an illustration in one book. It was a playground park scene, and in the background was a man who looked like he was hanging from a tree. It looked really disturbing.
It may have been the illustrator 'having a laugh'. The teacher just said 'so he is'.
I also pull up spellings/grammar - particularly if it is an american book and has an incorrect 'english' spelling. This is only for books when they are younger!

I have put comments like that too! It annoys me when something purported to be factual is wrong. There is no reason not to mention gravity to a 3 year old, let alone a child in y1. Introducing a concept early - even if it's just the name - will only be helpful.

I think the question as to whether or not there is any harm in putting wrong information in books is answered by the posters who thought it was correct :)

I think I'd have written something too - I got annoyed when the kid pointed out that one of the rainbows in one of her sticker books is upside down.

We got a book with a lovely little boy who played in the park where his father worked. One day a group of teenagers destroyed all the father's plants and threatened him, whilst the little boy hid from the scary older boys.

DD2 (who was 5 at the time) was really upset by it and asked if that was why we don't go to the park anymore (which was really because our neighbour was beaten to a pulp by teenage thugs)?

I did suggest to the school that although true to life, this wasn't really an appropriate story for a pretty sheltered middle class 5 year old.

More concerned that they teach our kids that the son of god died to forgive us our sins and that the entire universe was created by 'God' who ever he is.
If they included some philosophy with this garbage would not be so annoyed. That wouldn't go down well in the reading records of our C of E junior school

I think it is really good to write in the reading book because thicko parents like me won't realise this is wrong

I don't really see the point in writing this to the teacher. what do you want her to do? remove the book from the library? if it really concerns you write to the publisher.

Agree with Moid - my biggest concern at the moment is that they keep trying to teach dd1 also (yr2) that god created the world.....However it does seem a little odd to be teaching anything not factually correct in a supposed factual book.

I wrote to Ginn about a mistake when I was about seven because the teacher said they might send me a mars bar.

They didn't.

Ach. Our community pediatrician wrote me a letter explaining in minute (and completely false) detail about what cerebral palsy was. I have kept it as proof that 7 years of medical training doesn't prevent you from being a fool.

I love this stuff.

Am faintly horror-struck by 'so he is', though.

I asked school not to let my 7yo read the child abuse stories, if that was at all possible. Or the ghost ones. Not the crappy cartoony stuff, but full on serious haunting shite.

As for random religion based stuff, at 12, dd2 has just chosen to move to the catholic school. This has prompted many interesting discussions.

Agree with others, use as a learning point and move on, unless likely to induce nightmares.

I've just googled this question and most of the answers seem to agree with the reading book! It just shows that the people who post answers on these 'answer' websites are just making them up (what I've always suspected anyway)

cansu It is worth pointing out to the teacher because s/he might decide to remove it from the library - or at least tell the dc that it is wrong.

Welcome to the world of misconceptions!

As a secondary Science teacher, my hardest job (apart from trying to get Year 11s to understand the concept of moles) is having to 'unteach' firmly held misconceptions - some of which are enforced by parents/the media/primary teaching.

Examples:

• Chemical reactions cannot be reversed
• Plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen
• Plants get their food from the soil
• Bacteria are always harmful
• There is less 'gravity' on the moon because there is no atmosphere
• It is hotter in summer because we are closer to the sun (not helped by school science books which show the earth's orbit as extremely elliptical)
• Non-renewable fuels are non-renewable becasue once they have been used, they cannot be used again
• Respiration takes place in the lungs

I would love to be able to say that all my pupils leave my classsroom with these (and other) misconceptions firmly out of their brains. However, I am not that confident in my abilities!

I don't know the situation in primary schools, but be assured that secondary Science teachers (in state schools) are not allowed to teach creationism/intelligent design in Science lessons. It is widely discussed in RE/philosophy, but is not the scientifically accepted theory about the creation of the universe. We are also not supposed to discuss intelligent design as being a credible alternative theory.

Of course, this doesn't apply to academies or free schools who are free to do whatever the hell they like from the constraints of he National Curriculum.

Reminds me of a Magic Key adventure DS had last year, he read it to DH who is very scientifically minded, then wrote a long spiel in the reading record about how he and DS had discussed the bad science in the book and outlined it all. Just looked it up.... Red Planet, ORT Stage 7, watch out all those purists (and why shouldn't you be)!

Me too cept no degree

Erk!

Oops! Why is it hotter in summer then? (because the days are longer, so more time to get warm?)

We have often corrected books in the reading record- some have been downright bonkers.
We have also complained about incorrect pluralisations! Teacher was a little non-plussed!

Ah. But do you correct the grammatically incorrect comments* your teacher has made in your child's reading record?

(I don't, btw, I felt on balance they were less important than the fact she was a warm, kind woman).

*speaking of which...apostrophe?

It's really hard to explain without a globe, torch and a bit whiteboard (and lots of animation software). Basically, the tilt of the earth's axis means that the same amount of energy from the sun is spread over a smaller suface area of the earth in the summer than in winter. So, for us, the sun's rays 'feel' more concentrated (think of the sun on a cold winter's day compared to mid summer).

In the lovely UK we have the problem of all those awkward air currents/winds/jet stream thingies that can bugger it all up entirely, but that's fro the physical geographers and not the lowly chemists like me!