You Said It! Electricity Product Reviews


You Said It! Product Reviews - Educational Innovations NewsletterWe have assembled a brilliant array of electricity products to help you explain the fundamentals of electricity to your students.   We’ve got everything from Electric Paint to Plasma Globes.

Here’s what some of our customers are saying about our some of their favorite EI electricity teaching tools.

If you have a favorite Educational Innovations product, let us know!  We’d love to share your review with your fellow teachers and science lovers.

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Experimenting with Our Electricity Kit


Donna Giachetti, Educational InnovationsBy:  Donna Giachetti

A Lesson on Electricity… with Elmo

Even babies understand the difference between ON and OFF.  After mastering peek-a-boo, turning a switch on and off is one of a toddler’s favorite games.  What will happen if I press here?  Where did that light come from?  Who made that noise?  Something nearly always happens when a button is pushed, and it leaves children wanting to know more.  At least that’s how it went in my house.  My son wasn’t satisfied squeezing Tickle Me Elmo’s belly to hear the little guy giggle.  He soon figured out how to switch Elmo on-off-on-off so rapidly that the poor fuzzball appeared to have a bad case of the hiccups.

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Making Waves


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

Energy is transported by waves.  That’s an important concept to teach students, but it’s not always an easy one for them to understand. At the beginning of our unit on the electromagnetic spectrum, my class and I made wave models so they could all see and understand how waves work.

The kids loved this activity when we did it in class and, when I run into former students, some tell me they still have their wave models hanging from their ceilings more than 10 years after we made them!

Materials:

  • Popsicle Sticks
  • Kite String
  • Low Melt Glue Gun
  • Ruler or Yard Stick
  • Tape
  • Pen, Pencil, or Marker

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Energy Sources in a Classroom


Roy Bentley, Educational Innovations

Energy Sources in a Classroom – Scavenger Hunt

by: Roy Bentley

I had the opportunity to attend the NSTA Convention that was held last month in Boston. It was a great show with amazing displays, topics and speakers. And of course, we had the PowerWheel there demonstrating how easy it is to teach about energy.

One of the points that came up during the show that struck me as worth exploring further was when we asked the teachers we were working with was “what sources of energy do we have in the classroom” The teachers at the show answered the lights, the power outlets, the sunshine through the windows and possibly the forced air from the heating/cooling system. No one referred to the faucet. When the teachers were asked if they had ever had the electricity fail in the school they all answered yes. When asked if they had ever experienced a water failure in the school they all answered no. It was concluded that the most reliable source of energy in the room was the faucet/(gravity).

Here is a simple classroom or home activity to help students realize how many energy sources are around them all the time! Read the rest of this entry »


Spouting Off in the Classroom


Ted Beyer, Educational InnovationsThe Chinese Spouting Bowl

by Ted Beyer

When we are at one of the many educational shows we attend each year, teachers often ask what our favorite products are. I always point at two items – our eddy current materials (here’s that post!) and The Chinese Spouting Bowl. When I mention the bowl, invariably I hear – “yeah, I have seen that in the catalog – does it really work?” The simple answer is yes, yes it does. It not only works, it is amazing to see work, not that hard to make work, and most importantly, it can also be a powerful teaching tool. In fact, the Chinese Spouting Bowl is an ancient and fascinating object that can bring many different science scientific principals into the classroom in an unexpected way.Spouting Bowl

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