The Mentos Geyser made history once again as the star attraction at the NAEYC 2006 Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the rumble of the crowd in the exhibit hall, you could hear someone from the Spangler Science booth yell, “GEYSER!” followed by a few screams and cheers of excitement. The “geyser” was actually the eruption of a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke powered by Mentos. As soon as people approached the booth and saw the mountain of soda and the display of Mentos, they knew what could happen… but most people didn’t believe that we would actually launch the geysers from behind the booth. Surprise!

Instead of just launching the Diet Coke just for fun sake, we used each opportunity to deliver a quick science lesson and followed it up by putting one of our Geyser Tube Experiments in each of the teacher’s hands. Out of the 11,000 people reported to be in attendance at the event, we personally handed out 7,000 Geyser Tube Experiments (which included a roll of Mentos). We even had a few guest “geyserists” take center stage in the booth and try their hand at a launch.

This is not the first time these educators had seen or performed our Mentos Geyser which was featured on stage three years ago in Anaheim, California at the 2003 NAEYC Conference. One teacher commented, “We’ve been doing this experiment for the past three years, and it took the rest of the world this long to catch up!”

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In addition to being the Business Columnist for the Denver Post, Al Lewis is now a fan of the Mentos and soda mixture. Al called last week with questions about our recent license agreement with with Italian confectioner Perfetti Van Melle, the maker of Mentos. His column entitled Mentos-Soda Mix a Mint for Scientist looks at the business side of the popular Mentos Geyser. He asked lots of questions about things other than my work on the Mentos experiment. He wanted to know about my background, my teaching and my parents.

“Let me get this straight,” I said to Spangler. “Your father was a scientist and a magician. David Copperfield hung out at your house. You are now 39 years old. And getting a pop bottle to squirt 20 feet in the air is the best trick you know?”

“This isn’t the best trick,” he said. “It’s the trick that got the most notoriety.”

Al also wanted to learn how this science experiment turned into a viral marketing sensation with the Mentos video that aired on 9NEWS in September of 2005.

Al asked me if teachers are really doing this experiment and how they’re turning it into a learning experience. Share your Mentos Geyser experiment with Al Lewis on his blog.

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Our hands-on science team of teachers hit the road and headed to Atlanta for another stop on the 2006 Science Boot Camp Tour. The focus for this Boot Camp was to find creative ways to integrate more science into the teacher’s current curriculum. Among their top concerns was a need for better open-ended inquiry activities that help students learn how to use the scientific method.

Download the Boot Camp Extras HandoutÂ

The large turn out of teachers represented a wide spread in grade levels - pre-K through high school. Dave Edinger attended the Boot Camp from Starr’s Mill High School in Fayetteville, Georgia and commented about his experience talking with a number of teachers who don’t like science because it’s “boring”. He is just one of many teacher trainers out there including Carol Cohen, Andrea Benkel and Tammy Brown who are helping others in the teaching profession rekindle that spark for teaching science. It was also great to see Mary Reik and Chris Freidenstein who have a connection with my televsion co-host in Denver at KUSA-TV, Mark Koebrich. Mary and Chris are Mark’s sisters who are not afraid to attempt any of the demos that Mark tries on television. You can see the video of Chris smacking the eggs into the glasses for the closing demonstration thanks to a cell phone video camera.

What were the marching orders? Devote a minimum of ten minutes a day to teaching science. Give students the opportunity to ask questions, to wonder, to explore and to think like a scientist. The final words were the most important… “Make it big, do it right, give it class!”

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