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November 8, 2010
Contributed by Guest Blogger, Nancy Leemer
I remember coming to the NAEYC Conference years ago and watching Steve Spangler present his hands-on science activities to a room of 50 or so early childhood educators, but those days are long gone. That intimate workshop experience in the past has given way to a ballroom packed with a few thousand teachers who are wondering what he’s going to do this time.
“I saw Steve last week on the Ellen Show and didn’t even know he was going to be at this conference,” said Shawna Dematre, a second year teacher from an early learning center outside of Nashville. “When I saw his name on the program, I wanted to come to the session to see how I can do more science experiments for my kids.”
When Steve hit the stage, the audience had already been treated to twenty minutes of simple science experiments and other video clips from Spangler’s website. Within five minutes from the start of the program, pieces of potatoes were already flying through the audience and he was setting up his main themes:
- The difference between good teachers and great teachers is that the great ones know how to create unforgettable learning experiences.
- Just because kids
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November 22, 2009
Over 750 people experienced the Bed of Nails demo at our booth at NAEYC this year… and some of the really excited people took home the t-shirt.
Do you think the holes in the back are too much? No way… especially if you have a specially rigged shirt that springs a leak. Thanks to Brian Firooz for wearing the leaking shirt and drinking gallons and gallons of water over the course of the three-day conference.
November 18, 2009
Have you guessed what our surprise experiment might be yet? Let me give you one more clue… it just arrived at NAEYC – forklift and all – and it has 4,500 sharp nails, all staring up at us, waiting for the first victim… um, guest of the day. Just in case you still don’t know, here’s a picture to help you out.
That’s right… it’s our giant bed of nails from the Ellen Degeneres Show! And guess what? Just stop by our booth at NAEYC and we’ll take your picture on the bed of nails and even give you a personalized nametag with your photo on it for free! We can’t wait to see everyone there.
November 11, 2009
So, what’s in store for this year at the NAEYC annual conference? We have a science surprise for everyone who stops by our booth (#323). While I can’t let the cat out of the bag right now, I can give you a few hints. It’s totally hands-on and it’s so large that it requires a forklift to move it. If you’re lucky enough to be attending the conference, follow us on Twitter so we can give you a few more hints and let you know how and when you can participate.
Washington D.C. is preparing for the arrival of thousands of early childhood teachers at the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) annual conference. Over the years, I’ve been honored to present hands-on science workshops and featured sessions, but I probably enjoy my time in the exhibit hall the most… because we always try to plan something over-the-top for the thousands of teachers who stop by the booth. We’ve filled our science demo island with hundreds of gallons of Instant Snow, shot off 700 Mentos
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November 11, 2008
If you attended the annual NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) conference last week in Dallas, Texas, it wasn’t hard to find the Steve Spangler Science booth. All you had to do was listen for the shouts of surprise as we launched over 600 Mentos Geysers with the Geyser Tube™ in our own take on the classic dunk tank… the Boy in a Box. It was great to see the teacher reactions when they pulled the string and sent a blast of Coke raining down on our never-tiring Boys in a Box.
As my team can attest, I lost my voice at the conference… just like I do every year… from explaining to everyone who passed by the science behind the Mentos and Diet Coke reaction. It’s important as educators that we don’t just drop some Mentos in a Coke and call it science. The resulting geyser is a great effect, but you are missing the key piece of the lesson. Shoot off a geyser, then listen as your students start to ask questions… “Why does that happen?”… “What if we used more Mentos?”…
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