May 14, 2008

Wild About Tie Dye

Lots of kids learn how to do tie dye, but the fifth graders at Wilder Elementary got a dose of art and science today when yours truly and art teacher extraordinare, Jill Day, approached the activity from a slightly different angle. You won't find the science of tie dye in the fifth grade curriculum, but today's lesson was both a gift from the Wilder staff and PTO and a rite of passage as these students move onto middle school. From the science perspective, the students learned about three "secrets" of tie dye, and on the art side, Mrs. Day covered the coolest way to use colors in a tie dye pattern. In addition to washing their tie dye t-shirts tonight, the students were invited to share some of the "secrets" they learned and some of the finer points of learning the "real" tie dye methods (as one of the students said, "Direct from the tie dye hippie artists to our classroom!") The students will be posting their comments all night long... check back tomorrow and we'll even have some pictures and video up … (more...)

September 1, 2007

A Look Inside Our Lab on Modern Marvels

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.

July 11, 2007

Exploding Watermelons

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.

July 8, 2007

Hooked on Learning - Jack Spangler’s Magic Trick

Jack is 8 years old and likes to perform (he must get that from his Mom). Three years ago, the owners of Frog Street Press invited Jack to accompany me to their amazing summer conference for teachers called SPLASH. I helped Jack perform his first magic trick in front of a large audience (about 1,200 teachers) and that's all it took. The Frog Street Press people were kind enough to invite us back this July, and Jack was ready to hit center stage. Jack's routine is an original twist on a classic magic trick you might have seen performed by another magician using pom-pom balls. The audience in this video consisted of almost 1,700 early childhood educators (primarily pre-K through 2nd grade). Here's Jack... http://www.youtube.com/v/jftX2WyAHd4

June 12, 2007

Remembering Mr. Wizard - A True Inspiration

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. … (more...)