Q: Tell us a little about who you are… A: Let’s see… I’m definitely not a scientist, I’m not in a band, I’m not an ultra-creative graphic designer, I’m not on Ellen, I haven’t been featured on YouTube, I rarely blow things up. My life is pretty boring compared to some of the people I work with.
I’m a mom, wife, dog walker, former high school English teacher, volunteer, taxi driver, sports fan (especially my kids’ sports), non-profit fund raiser, Duke grad, music lover, golfer, and avid reader. I have lived in Colorado most of my life and am passionate about education and the outdoors. I serve as a Trustee on a non-profit Board (the John Austin Cheley Foundation) that raises money to provide summer camp experiences for kids around the country.
When I was growing up, my school did not do a science fair. I had never been to a science fair until my oldest was in kindergarten. All I knew was it had something to do with baking soda volcanoes.
Fast forward several years, and I now organize the science fair and encourage kids to get involved. Through Steve Spangler Science, I also help parents, teachers and students with their projects. Science fair and volcanoes may go hand in hand, but the ever popular demonstration is not actually a science fair project.
A science fair project asks a “what if” question, which leads to a variable and eventually finding an answer or at the very least, a big discovery. A science demonstration, like our volcano, is used to illustrate a science concept.
Another extremely popular demonstration is quickly taking over the volcano as a classic science fair project – dropping Mentos into Diet Coke. This is also a demonstration.
But can you take a demonstration and turn it into a science fair project? Absolutely. All you need to do is C3 it. The three C’s stand for Change,
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During the winter months, static electricity can build up and cause a shock when we touch a piece of metal or someone else. You can actually feel, see and hear the spark jump from your body or see it when you rub two cotton blankets together. But what happens to cause that shock and zap and why is it worse in the winter?
First you have to understand atoms, the things that make up all matter. Do you remember high school physics? The nucleus of an atom has neutrons and protons (positive). The shell is made up of electrons (negative). When the number of electrons and protons are even, the atom is neutrally charged. If there are more electrons, the atom is negatively charged. More protons, it’s positively charged.
Some atoms want to keep their electrons, while others will give them up when they
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Sometimes the hardest part of the entire science fair is figuring out what you want to do for your project. I know from personal experience with my own sons that it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking you have to do something amazing in order to make the project worthwhile. My sons’ best projects have revolved around their interests and were really quite basic, but used the scientific method to answer a question. A few years back, my older son (a competitive golfer) wanted to know if a warm or a cold golf ball traveled farther so he ran some tests to find an answer. My younger son created the Helmet Crash-The Melon Test experiment as a response to a lot of information on the news about ski accidents and people not wearing helmets. These were not complicated questions, but they were ideas that interested my kids.
In trying to come up with your own idea, ask yourself a basic question: What are you interested in? Brainstorm a list of topics in
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We are excited to announce our new partnership with YouTube EDU and the YouTube for Schools project. Students and educators now have access to our entire library of science experiment videos in the classroom. No more work arounds or third-party sites to try to show videos in the classroom. YouTube listened to what educators and parents wanted and created something that will forever change the way teachers use videos in the classroom.
To join YouTube for Schools or learn more about the program, visit www.youtube.com/schools For detailed step-by-step instructions on how to sign up, please read this YouTube Help Center article. It’s no secret… teachers want (and need) access to YouTube in their classrooms for a multitude of great reasons. With hundreds of thousands of videos available at their fingertips, YouTube has become a
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Q: Tell us a little about who you are…
