The crew from Modern Marvels on the History Channel visited our science lab back in July to play with some really cold science experiments. In other words, the liquid nitrogen was flowing and the onions were exploding! Mark your calendars… Modern Marvels: Deep Freeze will officially be airing on the History Channel on Tuesday, September 25th at 8pm EST.

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I love Halloween. One of my favorite activities is to “carve” pumpkins using a simple reation inside the fruit. First, you carve the face then carefully replace pieces. After creating a reaction by generating a gas inside and igniting it (ask your local chemistry teacher for the details) the face pieces are blown off with a small explosion.

Halloween is more than 100 days away and I just couldn’t wait. So I initiated the new weather anchor at the local Denver television station by introducing her to carving watermelons. The problem was, we didn’t really carve the watermelon, it exploded. Watch the Video to see how we skipped right over the carving and went straight to exploding.

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Okay, it’s not science… but I’m so proud that I just had to share it. Mark and Scott are our twin 5 year old boys who have both taken a liking to magic. It probably doesn’t hurt to see their brother Jack (who is now 8 years old) performing his magic tricks on stage. I was recently invited to be a featured speaker at the SPLASH Summer Conference presented by Frog Street Press in Dallas, Texas. Mark and Scott performed this trick on stage in front of almost 1,700 teachers and they had a ball. The boys couldn’t understand why everyone was getting up to leave at the end of their trick. You’ll see why.

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As I was driving home this evening, I received a call from a fellow science teacher who shared the news of the passing of Don Herbert. As I reflect on the impact Mr. Wizard had on science education and me personally, I can’t help but be thankful for his dedication and contagious enthusiasm for learning science. It’s difficult to find a science teacher who doesn’t have a favorite Mr. Wizard story. A recently retired teacher loved to tell the story of how Mr. Wizard taught him how to cook a hot dog by literally electrocuting the hot dog using a lamp cord and 120 volts of electricity. I remember watching Mr. Wizard’s World on Nickelodeon in the mid 1980’s and being impressed by the simplicity of the experiments but also the way Don made you want to conduct the experiments at home. Don Herbert made a career out of making science fun.

During the late 1990’s, I was fortunate enough to get to work with Don on several projects, and I took the opportunity to ask for his advice as I started my television career. Don challenged me to do everything in my power to make science accessible to everyone. He reminded me to “be yourself… and don’t let those television producers put you in a white lab coat… just be yourself.” Don always preferred a casual sweater to a lab coat in his later years.

Don received an honorary doctorate from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut and I was invited to share a few science demos during his ceremony. While waiting to go on backstage, Don shared these thoughts on science education… “People call me a science teacher or a scientist, but I’m actually a science entertainer. I think of myself as a person who likes science and has the ability to communicate my enthusiasm about science over the airwaves. I really enjoy being a cheerleader of sorts for science… but I wouldn’t call myself a science teacher. That’s a job I have to leave to the pros.”

In place of their nightly bedtime story, I pulled my first edition copy of Mr. Wizard’s Supermarket Science from the shelves this evening for my boys and shared a few stories about one of the special people who inspired me to be a teacher.

Please click on comments to share your thoughts and memories about Don Herbert.

Visit the official Mr. Wizard website for more information.

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Only a very cool teacher gives this kind of homework to her students… “Using only construction paper and tape, I want you to design a rocket.” Lisa Heaton, the Gifted and Talented teacher showed her students a specially designed rocket launcher made out of PVC plumbing parts from the local hardware store. The idea for the PVC rocket launcher comes from U.S. Space Camp for Educators curriculum. I had the privilege of assisting Mrs. Heaton with the launch of the paper rockets. As the students will share in the comments below, the first launch revealed their design strengths and flaws. The five students with the best launch served as mentors for the rest of the students as they returned to the classroom to repair and redesign their paper rockets. The second launch proved to be the real learning experience - be sure to read comments from the young rocketeers below.

“This rocket launch activity coincides with the students reading Rocket Boys (also known as October Sky) by Homer Hickam. I want these kids to experience first hand the feeling of failure and success through the trial and error process of building their own rockets… and this air-powered rocket launcher does the trick,” says Lisa Heaton as she turns to help a 5th grader repair a rocket that didn’t fair well during the first launch.

These 5th graders are also using this hands-on science experience to learn about the science of blogging (pun intended). Student bloggers from Mrs. Heaton’s class in past years posted blog comments about their rocket experience that were even read by Homer Hickam (the author of October Sky) himself. Be sure to read the student comments below.

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