Don Cameron is Mad About Science
Steve Spangler visits Don Cameron's classroom at Lakewood High School
Tag - great teachers or mad about science or education
October 24, 2008
The chemistry students at Lakewood High School in Lakewood, Colorado set their alarm clocks just a little earlier than normal today to join us on live TV for our Mad About Science tribute to Don Cameron. Mr. Cameron is described by his students as a ‘really great teacher who tells lots of jokes.’ While Mr. Cameron does lots of great demos, what impressed me most about him was how he was able to use these great science demos to build real-world connections to the science content. As you watch the video, you’ll see how the students demonstrated an experiment with dry ice that shows how global warming makes the oceans more acidic. They also used a Tesla Coil to demonstrate what …
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October 15, 2008
Tom Andrews is Mad About Science
Any teacher who can inspire a group of students to get up at 4:30 AM in order to be on live television is an amazing person. But it didn’t take long to see why his students like him so much… “He’s just a cool teacher who makes coming to class fun,” says one of his students as she launches a rubber bug across the room. Mad About Science is a television news series that we created at 9News KUSA-TV in Denver almost ten years ago as a way to recognize science teachers in Colorado who are getting their students excited about learning science. Tom Andrews hits the mark as an amazing science teacher at Goddard Middle School in Littleton, Colorado. When you visit Mr. Andrews’ classroom, you can see that he practices what he preaches. “Science needs to be hands-on and engaging …
June 12, 2008
Easy Science Experiments on the Carnival of Education
Every once in a while I stumble across a new resource or website and say, “Why didn’t I know about this before now?” If you’re a teacher and you don’t know about The Carnival of Education, check it out! As I understand it, the Carnival of Education is hosted on a new education site each week, and it has an amazing readership. Brew a second pot of coffee because once you start reading, you’ll get roped in for a few hours (each time you check it out).
February 28, 2008
Hose Burst Test on Live TV - Spangler Visits Gates Labs
All this week on TV, I had the opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at Denver-based companies who each have a cool science twist to their business. The scientists at Gates Corporation invited our cameras on a tour of the hydraulic testing labs at Gates where they demonstrated how engineers test high pressure rubber hoses for commercial use. During the segment, Joel Edwards, Vice President of Fluid Technology & Product Development and Larry Kachinski, Senior Lab Engineer pressurized a hose rated to 6,000 psi with a safety factor of 4:1. The loud burst produced a perfect rupture at nearly 28,000 psi!
Anything that goes bang is fun, but… I was most impressed to speak with Joel Edwards, VP of Product Development, and his engineers who all share the same passion for getting students K-12 excited about careers in science and engineering. For more information about Gates Corporation, visit www.gates.com
October 9, 2005
Mad About Science Week - Wally Keesecker
Our week-long salute to amazing science teachers wraps up with a visit to Heritage High School in Littleton, Colorado, where chemistry teacher Wally Keesecker gets students fired up about science. Wally is well-known for his attention-grabbing science demos that introduce students to real-world connections to everyday chemistry. Video: The Steve Spangler Mad Scientist Tour finishes the week with a bang at Heritage High School. 6 a.m. October 7, 2005. This is an especially fun visit for Steve since Wally Keesecker was his 8th grade science teacher in the Littleton Public Schools. “People like me make the decision to go into education after being inspired by an amazing teacher. While I didn’t exactly know that I would one day become a science teacher, I knew that I wanted to do something in education after experiencing someone as amazing as Wally Keesecker,” says Steve Spangler who is like a kid in a candy store whenever he pays a visit to his former science teacher. Wally and his teaching colleagues dazzled us with two demonstrations centered around a Halloween theme. The first demo illustrated a chemical reaction that oozed from the eyes and mouth of a carved pumpkin. Because …
