You may have seen the recent commercials showing a child raising flags representing America’s standing in school ranking world-wide. I came across an article for the same campaign that shared some striking, but unfortunately not surprising, statistics. According to the “One Nation Left Behind” program, 20 countries outscore the US in science education and 93% of US middle school teachers have little or no science training.
As standardized testing becomes key in schools nation-wide, the decline in science education becomes widely apparent. The Strong American Schools Website offers more staggering statistics and eye-opening quizzes that help drive home the point that our children are not receiving enough science education. Check it out and be prepared for some shocking results.
However, the One Nation Left Behind campaign is committed to creating awareness about the growing education problem in America… from science, to math, to English.. and offers opportunities to get involved in your community.
The BBC UK called our offices yesterday to get permission to use the Inside the Soda Can experiment, that I’ve done on 9News, for Chris Jeavans “plastic-free” blog. Chris is trying to live for one month without using any plastic products. As the soda can experiment proves, Chris is finding that this may be a harder task than she once expected! When you perform this experiment, you will find that aluminum cans actually have a plastic liner, which prevent the acid in pop from eating away at the metal can. Mark that up as one more product Chris will be eliminating from her life this month! Be sure to check out Chris’ blog for some great info on what it means to “go green” in this consumer-driven world. It’s always fun to see our experiments making it around the world.
When we invited our customers to show us their Summer Science Camps with You Tube videos, Cheryl Purdum when above and beyond the call. Any teacher who is willing to dress up as a Mad Scientist to win a gift certificate to our website clearly deserved that winning title.
Cheryl followed up with us later in the summer to let us know that her summer camp was a huge success. Her pictures were such a treat… I loved looking at the kids’ facial expressions and to truly see a sense of wonder. The color mixing activities looked like they were a big hit, and the cornstarch walk was a riot. Just the look on their faces tells the whole story!
I can’t think of anyone who could have put the gift certificate to better use. Thanks so much, Cheryl, for your enthusiasm for teaching science and for all that you do to create experiences for kids that they’ll never forget.
Over the years, the exploding pumpkin demo is right up there at the top of my short list for my all time favorite, crowd-pleasing science demonstration. But who wants to wait a whole year just to do the demo again? That’s why we’re working on the fine art of watermelon carving… with the aid of a tiny chemical reaction… okay, it’s an explosion. We just substituted a big, juicy watermelon in place of the pumpkin and pulled the trigger. Since the walls of a watermelon are not necessarily as strong as a pumpkin, sometimes the whole darn thing explodes… but that adds to the fun. Check out the video. (If the video doesn’t play, click on Exploding Watermelon Experiment.)
