You’re in for a treat today, because I’m posting my very first podcast interview.

Listen in on my discussion with Julie Gintzler, kindergarten teacher extraordinaire and instructor at the Hands-on Science Boot Camp as she shares one of her secrets to teaching science.

Julie doesn’t do diagrams on the board or long dissertations. Her secret is her lab coat. After 18 years of teaching, Julie has finally found something that sparks the kids’ imagination right off. The first time she introduces a science experiment, she wears her tie dyed lab coat. From it she pulls out a gem of the day. It might be a test tube. It might be a magnifying glass. It’s a great way to introduce the tools in a fun and exciting way. The kids know the minute her lab coat goes on, science is just around the corner.

Most lab coats are white. One of my teachers in high school had one with burns all over it. Julie tried a plain white one and the kids were frightened. They thought “doctor”? or “nurse”?. So Julie’s is tie dyed from head to toe in primary colors.

Not only is it a cue that it is time to talk about science, but the children get excited about science. Get them excited when they are young and while their minds are open.

Listen to my podcast interview of science teacher superstar Julie Gintzler

(File size is 1.2 MB) (Show length 5 minutes)

What’s your secret? Is there something you use like Julie’s lab coat to let your students know that they’re in for something special? Click on the comment button to share your ideas.

 

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Here’s an idea submitted by Candice Ware - a really creative teacher who is getting her kids doing science.

This idea originated with Dr. Jean. I just carried it a step further. I have an attache case labeled Scientist of the Week. Each week one child takes home the case. Inside is a lab coat, glow in the dark glasses and a clipboard of simple science experiments. The child chooses one experiment,(does not need to come from the clipboard), practices it, and comes to school with the case and materials necessary to present it to the class. Parents are welcome to come in and assist or take pictures. My first graders love this and can recall who did whic experiments. Everyone gets 2 turns during the year. We even wrote a class book about this. It gives the children ownership of a piece of science.

This idea came through our Teacher Inventor program. Thanks Candice.

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I just completed a segment for television on the “power of air”. How else to better demonstrate “power” than to have a little fun with a potato gun. Now before anyone gets bent out of shape because I’m doing something so “unsafe”, take a look at the video to see how this potato launcher works. The original design was actually created by a great chemistry teacher from Naperville, Illinois by the name of Lee Marek. It’s really a great way to demonstrate Boyle’s Law.

Behind the scenes… Remember that most of the work I do on television is live. There’s no retakes or editing - what you see is what you get, and rarely do I ever get a chance to practice with any of the other news anchors. If you watched the video, you saw that Mark Koebrich and I had a blast on camera, but that’s all you saw “on camera”. What you didn’t see was the camera man, director, audio technician and the security guard all shooting potato plugs in the 9NEWS backyard. Funny how a simple little device can bring the kid out in all of us.

But I never would have guessed that the volume of email response would have been this great. My inbox was overflowing with emails from viewers who each had their on “version” of a potato gun… which were dangerous to say the least!!! How could my relatively harmless version of a spud launcher be in any way related to these monster potato cannons? However, I did receive one email with a link to a website with great potato gun stories. If you’re a potato gun enthusiast, you’ll love the stories.

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Corporate trainers should take a lesson from teachers (and perhaps little ol’ me) on how to inspire the people they’re teaching. Today, the buzz word in corporate training is “interactive”, but few trainers truly understand the meaning. To many traininers, the concept of “interactive” learning means, “Break into groups of 5 or so and share your thoughts and dreams with regard to baked Ziti.” That’s not interactive… that’s an easy way to spot a trainer who doesn’t have enough content to fill the day! I might be completely dead in the water, but I don’t think that most workshop participants find value in “discussion groups.” Try doing this with a group of 8th graders and they’ll eat you alive.

I hear some fantastic stories from science teachers around the country who have captured the hearts and minds of their students, not by parlour tricks, but with some amazing methods that involve and engage them. Just imagine starting the day off by inviting the class to decide if the regulation bowling ball will float or sink when Maria drops it in the huge aquarium filled with water. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine that abowling ball is heavy and it’s sure to sink. Now imagine the looks on the students’ faces when Maria drops the bowling ball in the water and it floats! As they wipe the water from their faces (hey, it was a huge splash!), the questions start flying from all parts of the room. How can a bowling ball float? Is the ball real? Is this a trick? How does the floating bowling ball work? This simple but highly effective approach to learning not only grabs the learner’s attention, but stimulates the participants to want to learn more. Who would have thought that learning about the concept of DENSITY would be so much fun?

Now, when was the last time you heard of a corporate trainer who did that? “Lifelong learning” at the workplace would be a lot more popular if it were a lot more fun!

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