The Poly Density Bottle

May 20, 2014

Tami O'Connor, Educational Innovationsby: Tami O’Connor

So, do you ever bring discrepant events into your classroom to capture your students’ attention? If so, the Poly Density Bottle should be on your list of must-haves! As you can see, this is a one-liter bottle filled with clear liquid. Floating at mid-bottle are two bands of beads, with blue on top of the white.

Demystifying the Poly Density Bottle-Educational Innovations Blog

On its own, this is intriguing to many students. The head scratching begins, however, once the bottle is given a good shake. As soon as everything starts to settle, students will observe that the white beads now float at the top of the liquid while the blue beads sink to the bottom. The liquid, once clear, now appears to be slightly cloudy.

But wait, there’s more… After about 30 seconds something interesting begins to happen. The white beads gradually sink down, the blue beads gradually begin to float up, and the liquid above and below the beads is again clear. Now the stumper… Why is this happening? Read the rest of this entry »

8 Comments | Chemistry, College level, density, Elementary level, High School level, Middle School level | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

The Magnetic Accelerator

March 17, 2014

Janice Van Cleaveby Janice VanCleave

I love the magnetic accelerator. In fact, I met friends at a restaurant yesterday and took the accelerator with me. We had a lot of fun predicting what would happen and testing our predictions. No formal steps….just making cool guesses and then discovering whether we were correct.

Yes! The steel ball shot off the end of the track and hit the floor a couple of times, but that just added to the excitement.  It’s a small town and few are surprised that the eccentric science author is experimenting at the restaurant–again!

Magnetic Accelerator

A parent came in with her daughter, a second grader. With the mother’s permission I invited the child to sit with us. The girl had sinus problems and didn’t feel well.  She was a bit sluggish and her eyes looked dull, as one would expect. When I asked the child if she wanted to do some science experiments, her dull eyes brightened. She had not been present during the previous testing of the accelerator, but she was immediately interested.

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Leave a Comment » | College level, Elementary level, experiments, High School level, magnetism, Middle School level, Physics | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

Learning About Light

September 26, 2013

Marty Sagendorfby: Marty Sagendorf

Light is magic stuff: it has no mass, it comes in many colors, it has energy, it can be emitted and absorbed, but it can’t be saved in a bottle or bucket.  Even though we can’t ‘save’ it, we can explore the many ways that light behaves around us.  We are told, or we read, about reflection, refraction, and the many other properties of light’s interaction with objects, but until we actually experience these we really don’t fully appreciate ‘the magic of light’.

Let’s start learning about light!

That’s what this Optics Kit, from Educational Innovations, allows us to do – experience light by doing.  This kit provides the necessary components to perform extensive investigations – ten are completely detailed – and new ideas for experimentation will naturally develop as optics principles become familiar.

Let’s begin with something we see every day:

REFLECTION

Start by drawing a line along, and one-half inch from, the long side of a piece of 8-1/2”x11” white paper.  At the mid-point of this line, draw a perpendicular line extending across the paper.  This line represents a ‘NORMAL’ to the mirror’s surface.

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Leave a Comment » | College level, experiments, High School level, Middle School level, Physics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

The Laws of Physics

June 13, 2013

Tami O'Connor, Educational Innovationsby: Tami O’Connor

My husband and I just returned from his reunion at Cornell University.  He attended the law school, so, while he reminisced with his friends about this loophole and that exception, I became curious about other events being held at the university.  I scanned the various offerings, and though he was interested in the course entitled “Effective Strategies for Conducting Online Legal Research”, the class entitled “Favorite Physics Demonstrations” at 2:00 PM jumped off the page at me.  The immutable laws of physics were just the diversion I needed!

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Leave a Comment » | College level, Elementary level, energy, experiments, High School level, Middle School level, Physics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

The Old Dog and the New Tricks

May 15, 2013

by:  Ken Crawford

An amazing thing happened to me about 18 months ago…I learned something new!  Now, I know that might not seem like a major thing…but for a person who has been a social studies teacher and administrator for 30 + years…I sometimes think that I have seen it all…nothing much new out there…but a single phone call changed all of that.

I received a call from a friend asking if I would be willing to meet with a gentleman who had invented a new teaching “tool”.  He wanted to know if it would help teachers to be more effective in their classrooms.  More effective teaching is something that I am always interested in…so I agreed to meet.

What I had a chance to see was a teaching tool called the PowerWheel. A micro hydro generator, it had the capability of using water from a sink to create enough electricity to light up a string of LED lights, charge up a cell phone or even power up a notepad.

The PowerWheel

The PowerWheel

Roy Bentley, the inventor/designer, asked me if I thought it might be something that teachers could use to help them teach students about energy.  I remember telling him, “I’m a social studies teacher…we need to ask some science teachers”. I put together a focus group of teachers that represented grade levels from 3rd grade through college.  Some taught science all day long, others were expected to include science as part of their overall curriculum. We gathered them together in a room and just let them “play” with the PowerWheel.  We had a great time, received some great feedback and saw what fantastic teaching ideas can be generated by a group of enthusiastic educators! I think I learned more about science in one day than I had in the past 20 years….it was amazing!

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Leave a Comment » | College level, Elementary level, energy, experiments, High School level, Middle School level, Physics | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

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