Thousands of science teachers found their way to St. Louis for the 2007 National Science Teachers Association convention, and we wanted to make sure they had something to take back to their students. So, we loaded our trucks with experiments and products from the website along with 5,000 rolls of MENTOS stuffed into plastic test tubes and headed for the Gateway City. We were fortunate to have 14 teacher ambassadors from the Hands-on Science Institute join us in the booth to each share their favorite science activities. Aside from 500 bottles of Diet Coke and a mountain of MENTOS, all eyes were on the 18 foot tall soda eruption chamber. We were demonstrating the new Geyser Tube by triggering a MENTOS geyser as fast as we could set-up a launch (about every 2-3 minutes for 3 full days). At the end of the convention, the soda was gone, the rolls of MENTOS were in the hands of 5,000 teachers, the truck was cleaned out… and we all had a blast. It’s back to the classroom for the 14 ambassadors to start working on cool stuff for next year’s NSTA in Boston.

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I was contacted several months ago by Julia Ann Charpentier, a Milwaukee-based freelance writer and an editor for book publishers, for a future article in the trade journal TD Monthly Magazine. If you’re interested in learning more about the world of educational toys… or you are curious about how Steve Spangler Science got it’s start, just click on the link below.

Read the article

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Maybe I should say we hit all of the Targets with our new science products. If you stroll through the toy isles at Target stores, you might stumble across some old Steve Spangler Science classics along with a few brand new science kits. All of these kits are part of our product license agreement with Be Amazing Toys, a Salt Lake City company specializing in hands-on science kits and toys for children who want to learn how to do something amazing. On the shelves at Target you’ll find Blizzard in a Bucket, Fun-damental Science, Water Wizardry, Fire and Ice Mountain, Jungle Quicksand, Insta-Worms, Morphin’ Gators, F/X Snow, Terrific Twisters and the best selling Test Tube Wonders. Thanks to everyone who emailed when they saw our creations at their local Target store.

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This statement was released earlier today regarding the lawsuit filed in district court in August 2005:

“Scientific Explorer, Inc. and Steve Spangler, Inc. reached a settlement with regard to the lawsuit filed by Spangler in district court on August 16, 2005. Steve Spangler is no longer affiliated with Scientific Explorer nor does he endorse any Scientific Explorer product.”

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People often ask how I got excited about science. Who was the great chemist who influenced my life?

I grew up in an unusual family. My first recollection was when I was three years old, peeking through the curtain at the Paramount Theater, watching my dad cut my mother into three pieces. Dad would close the show by eating fire. That my Dad could eat fire had amazing applications to my days in kindergarten - I took my Dad to “show and tell”?.

Growing up in a family of professional magicians, I learned how to think like a magician. Magicians always start with the impossible and move to the possible.

All things are possible. The difference between magic and science is the secret. Unlike magicians, science teachers get to create intrigue and wonder, but also reveal the secret. It is a beautiful approach to use when we are teaching science.

Listen to my podcast on magicians and teachers

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During my first year in teaching, my first evaluation revealed I wasn’t as terrible a teacher as I thought. My principal said: “I notice when I come into the room you go into performance mode. It makes learning so much fun but I am not sure if it is transferred to the kids though. Can they remember when you are not there?”?

She said if you create an experience that gets kids talking about it at the dinner table and that transfers to the parents who come back and say the kids tonight were floating and sinking bowling balls in the bathtub, then you have truly made an impact. Well, that was a huge call for me.

So I started creating activities and lessons that I knew kids would go home and do. Like making cans of soda float and sink and challenging mom and dad to identify whether the soft drink is diet or regular. Or bending a spoon (try that in a restaurant) or, my favorite, setting the table and then yanking the tablecloth from underneath!

Create experiences that truly translate back to the real world, as kids share their experiences at night at the dinner table.

Listen to my podcast about my first teacher evaluation

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A teacher can be an amazing teacher. In science workshops and seminars, I teach teachers how to do magic.

I grew up in a family of professional magicians, but my 13 years in the classroom didn’t involve a lot of magic other than science magic, like water floating upside down in a glass, or a ping pong ball floating on a stream of air.

Teachers are aware of how important it is to teach content. Sometimes they need to stop for a moment and learn how to be a presenter of science.

I teach you how to put the coin in your hand and make it disappear. It’s a technique used by magicians to grab our attention. It excites us. Makes us want to know how it works. And it can be worked into the Five E’s: it excites the kids, makes them want to explore, engages them in learning and experiment in the process and, finally, evaluates their learning.

And it can be as simple as a little experiment with the vanishing coin.

Listen to my podcast to hear how teachers can do magic in the classroom

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