August 21, 2008
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.
September 13, 2007
It’s official… I’m flying out to be a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show next week. Back in April of 2006 when a producer on the show originally contacted our office, I asked for your suggestions on experiments to do with Ellen. Lots of people suggested my Smoke Rings demo and Ellen might have taken your suggestion (hint, hint). Let’s just say that our office was filled with lots of smoke today as someone practiced shooting cups off of everyone’s head. We’re told that the air date will be next Friday, September 21, 2007. More to come.
Tags: Ellen Degeneres, Ellen Degeneres Show, experiments with ellen, giant smoke rings, Science, science experiment, Science Experiments, Science Video, shooting cups, Smoke Rings, steve spangler, Steve Spangler Science, teaching science, The Ellen Show
Filed under: In the News
September 1, 2007
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.
Tags: cold science experiments, Denver Television station, dry ice, History Channel, liquid nitrogen, Modern Marvels, Modern Marvels Deep Freeze, modern marvels history channel, Science Education, science experiment, Science Experiments, Science in the Rockies, Science Lab, Science Teacher, science teachers, steve spangler, Steve Spangler Science, teaching science
Filed under: In the News
July 11, 2007
Dropping a roll of Mentos into a bottle of soda used to be something that kids did for fun. Now adults are getting into the act. I opened my e-mail and received these cool pictures from the organizers of the event that took place on July 10th in Flower Mound, TX. Representatives from the Guinness World Records certified the record-setting effort, which went off at 6:30 pm inside the Circle R Ranch Rodeo Arena where 850 independent sales representatives from Books Are Fun, a Reader’s Digest Company, simultaneously dropped Mentos into 850 two-liter bottles of soda using the Geyser Tube Toy. The previous Mentos geyser record was set on May 24, 2007 in Cincinnati, Ohio when 504 Mentos-and-Coke geysers were set off. Watch the Video: The Largest Number of Simultaneous Mentos Geysers Please remember that you’re looking at 850 screaming adults… not kids… running away. Yes, learning is fun for people of all ages.
Tags: 504 Mentos and Coke geysers, Guinness World Records, Mentos, Mentos and Coke geysers, Mentos and soda, Mentos Experiement, Mentos Geyser, mentos geyser record, Science Video, steve spangler, Steve Spangler Science, The Largest Number of Simultaneous Mentos Geysers, YouTube video
Filed under: Mentos Geyser
July 11, 2007
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.
Tags: Chemistry, Denver Television station, exploding watermelons, explosion, halloween, high school science fair projects, mad scientist, middle school science fair projects, pumpkin carving, pumpkin carving patterns, Science Education, science experiment, science fair experiments, science fair projects, science fair projects for kids, science fair topics, science for kids, Science in the Rockies, Science Teacher, science teachers, Science Video, steve spangler, Steve Spangler Science, watermelons
Filed under: Teaching Moments
