Virginia fifth grader is celebrated for spotting the textbook error

Liam Squires, like many college students, usually answers the question “How was school today?” with an evasive answer along the lines of “I don’t know.”

This is why weeks passed before his mother, Megan Squires, learned that he had noticed an error in a science textbook that the publisher, dozens of students, and his own teacher had missed.

Liam, 10, had noticed that two rocks were out of place in a diagram of the rock cycle. The significance of his discovery did not become clear to his mother until months later in March, when Liam was praised by the school district superintendent and received a letter from the textbook publisher.

Liam spotted the mistake toward the end of a school day at HM Pearson Elementary School in Catlett, Virginia, about 50 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.

“I was just going through it, and since we had only recently learned about the rock cycle, I remembered it pretty well,” said Liam. “And I was like ‘That’s not right’ when I saw the mistake.”

For those who may need a refresher course on the rock cycle, it is the process that explains how the three main types of rocks – igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary – form and transform, according to the University of California, Berkeley.

In the overview section of the “Exploring Science All Around Us” textbook used by Liam’s class, the sedimentary and igneous rocks were switched to the wrong places in the rock cycle. The Fauquier Times reported on Liam’s discovery.

He immediately told his teacher, Serena Porter, who at first thought there couldn’t be a mistake in the textbook and feared she had taught the rock cycle incorrectly.

Then she examined the chart more closely.

“My eyes have been on that page, and other adult eyes, and no one has seen that,” Ms Porter said. “I was just blown away that he found it.”

Ms. Porter said the books were new and her class had received them halfway through the school year.

Liam noticed the mistake before winter break, shortly after his class got the new books. Ms. Porter informed the chief science officer of the Fauquier County Public Schools system, Linda Correll, who contacted the textbook publisher, Five Ponds Press.

Months passed, but in early March, Mrs. Porter learned that Five Ponds Press had written a letter to Liam acknowledging the mistake and sending him stickers and badges. In the letter, the publisher said he was “proud” of Liam.

“Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll become a geologist studying the Earth, or maybe you’ll become an author writing your own book!” the letter read. pay attention in class.

The publisher did not respond to a request for comment from The New York Times.

Now that Liam has been commended for the find, Ms Porter said her students have scoured all their textbooks for errors. So far they’ve found a few missing periods, but nothing beats the rock cycle error.

Ms. Porter called Liam a great student with an analytical mind. “I’m actually not surprised at all my students from all through fifth grade that he’s the one who would have found the mistake,” she said.

And as a teacher, she said, there was a clear lesson in his discovery.

“We’re all human, and whether adult or child, we all make mistakes,” said Ms Porter. “You don’t want to roll around pointing out everyone’s little flaws, but you should be proud that you caught something like that.”