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THE PHYSICAL EDITION

Prints and Paths

Follow Vince through a garden of small clues. Compare boot and paw prints, see how soft ground keeps a dent and hard stone can carry mud, then watch a cat cross a gap in its visible trail.

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Explore the science

Comparing shapesPages 1–2

Vince notices small paw-shaped marks beside his much broader boots. A print can preserve parts of the shape that touched the ground. Shape is a clue; it does not identify a particular animal by itself.

Ask together: What looks different about the two kinds of marks?

Contact makes an impressionPages 3–4

Vince presses a boot into soft soil and lifts it to reveal a dent. Soft ground can change shape under a foot and keep an impression after it lifts. The broad outline and tread come from contact.

Ask together: Which parts of the boot can you find in its print?

A transfer markPages 5–6

Mud sticks to Vince's boot, then some remains on a pale stone. The mark on the stone is a thin deposit of mud. Unlike the soil impression, it does not require the stone to dent.

Ask together: How does the mark on the stone look different from the dent in the soil?

Surfaces record differentlyPages 7–8

The small prints become hard to follow where the soil meets stone. A clear trail may disappear when the surface changes. A missing visible mark does not mean that its maker stopped there.

Ask together: Where would you look next?

Direct observationPages 9–10

Vince watches a cat place a paw in soft soil and leave a new print. Seeing a foot make a mark connects the maker and this new impression. Similar older marks are still uncertain clues.

Ask together: What changes when the cat lifts its paw?

A gap is not a stopPages 11–12

The cat crosses pale stone and leaves visible prints again in soft ground. The same moving animal can leave a clear record on one surface and little visible record on another.

Ask together: What can Vince see happening that the prints alone did not show?

Comparing new evidencePages 13–14

Vince and the cat walk home with differently shaped trails behind them. Their newly made marks preserve different foot shapes. Here, Vince can compare the traces with the makers he is watching.

Ask together: Which trail leads to Vince, and which leads to the cat?

Sources and evidence

  1. Foot contact can leave an impression in suitable soft ground.

    NIST: Pattern and Impression Evidence

    Virginia Department of Forensic Science: Impressions

    The clarity of an impression depends on the ground, moisture and contact; some marks are incomplete.

  2. An impression can preserve broad features of the contacting sole or paw.

    Virginia Department of Forensic Science: Impressions

    New Mexico State University Circular 561: Identifying and Preserving Wildlife Tracks

    A broad shape may be recognizable without identifying a particular individual.

  3. Mud carried on a boot can transfer to a hard stone as a surface mark.

    NIST OSAC Lexicon: Transfer Impression

    Mud transfer depends on how much mud adheres to the foot and whether it transfers to the next surface.

  4. A visible trail may have gaps because surfaces differ in how well they record and reveal marks.

    ABQ BioPark: Animal Tracks

    New Mexico State University Circular 561: Identifying and Preserving Wildlife Tracks

    Hard surfaces can sometimes carry transfer marks; they do not always leave a completely blank record.

  5. Watching a new print form provides direct evidence about its maker; an older similar print remains a clue.

    NIST: Pattern and Impression Evidence

    New Mexico State University Circular 561: Identifying and Preserving Wildlife Tracks

    Watching this cat make new prints does not prove that it made the older similar marks.

  6. A walking domestic cat can leave tracks with four toe impressions and a larger pad.

    University of Michigan BioKIDS: Smaller, four front and four back

    Ordinary clear domestic-cat prints show four toe impressions and a main pad; incomplete marks and other animals can look similar.

Water and Wind

Water and Wind, pages 1–2: Wind moves the pinwheel.

Spread 1 / 12

Wind tickles my cheek. Round goes my pinwheel.

Explore the science

Wind & forcesPages 1–2

Wind moves the pinwheel. Wind is moving air. Vince feels it on his cheek and sees it push the pinwheel's angled blades.

Ask together: What tells you that the air is moving?

Currents & eddiesPages 3–4

Water passes the rock. A leaf circles behind it. Most water passes the rock; some circles back in an eddy. Laminar flow is orderly; turbulence is irregular, mixing motion. A swirl alone cannot distinguish them.

Ask together: How does the leaf move compared with the water passing the rock?

Waves & energyPages 5–6

Waves spread from the stream. The duck bobs. The falling stream makes waves that carry energy outward and make the toys bob. The stream's current also carries toys along. Bobbing and drifting are different motions.

Ask together: What moves up and down? What moves along the pond?

BuoyancyPages 7–8

A duck floats. A pebble sinks. Water pushes upward on both objects. This buoyancy balances the duck's weight, but not the pebble's. The pebble's splash makes the rings on the next spread.

Ask together: Where is each object compared with the surface?

When waves meetPages 9–10

Two wave patterns approach one another. When gentle waves overlap, their heights add, briefly raising or lowering the surface. This interference does not erase the waves; they continue through one another.

Ask together: What might happen where the two patterns meet?

Surface tensionPages 11–12

Tiny dents appear beneath the strider’s legs. Surface tension helps support the strider where its water-repellent legs dent the water. The duck floats mainly by displacing water.

Ask together: What do you notice where its legs meet the water?

Suction & pressurePages 13–14

The duck bubbles, fills and squirts. Squeeze underwater: air bubbles out. Release with the opening submerged: the elastic duck springs back, lowering pressure inside. The surrounding water pressure pushes water in. Squeeze above water: water exits through that same opening.

Ask together: What changes when Vince squeezes and then lets go?

Lift & gravityPages 15–16

A paper plane glides forward and down. The throw starts the plane moving. Airflow around its wings produces lift and turns air downward. Gravity pulls down; drag resists motion. In still air, the plane glides forward and gradually descends.

Ask together: Where might the plane go next?

ViscosityPages 17–18

Milk runs. Honey stretches into a thread. Honey's greater viscosity means greater resistance to flow. It makes a slow thread while milk runs readily. Temperature and pouring method also matter; this snack is an observation, not a controlled test.

Ask together: How do the milk and honey move differently?

Draining & swirlingPages 19–20

Foam curves inward toward the drain. Gravity drives water through the drain. Existing turning motion can become a curved inward flow, traced by foam. Here water travels to the outlet, unlike waves crossing the pond. Not every drain swirls.

Ask together: Can you follow the foam toward the drain?

Scientific observationPages 21–22

Vince sketches what he noticed. Vince records something he noticed. Drawings, marks or words let him return to an observation. He does not need all the answers.

Ask together: Which earlier picture matches one of his drawings?

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