Surface Tension Demonstrations

January 14, 2013

Tami O'Connor, Educational InnovationsWe Water Molecules Stick Together! | Surface Tension Demonstrations

by: Tami O’Connor

I am a believer that observing discrepant events burns concepts into students’ memories far longer than simply reading the facts of the lesson from a text book.  A few years ago I was designing a unit on surface tension.  Because so many awesome hands-on activities deal with this topic, my greatest problem was picking and choosing!  In this blog, I will describe one of my students’ favorite surface tension demonstrations.  It teaches about surface tension and capillary action.

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5 Comments | Elementary level, experiments, Middle School level, Physics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

Picture This!

January 10, 2013

Marty SagendorfPhotographing Science

by: Martin Sagendorf

It’s Easy:

To take neat photos of little things.

We Think: Read the rest of this entry »

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

Bernoulli’s Principle: a Lesson or Two Made Out of Thin Air

November 25, 2012

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

A few weeks ago my daughter, a new fifth grade teacher, asked me to come into her school to present a hands-on science lesson on Bernoulli’s Principle.  Nothing delights me more than working with kids in a classroom.  After 16 years of teaching, it’s hard to be away from it.  At first I was unsure what I was going to bring in.  I have so many really neat activities at my disposal that it is difficult to select just one.  I finally narrowed it down to activities dealing with air pressure, which is part of their curriculum (always a plus!).

BernoulliAs I rummaged through the office, I unearthed my supply of funnels, flex straws, and ping pong balls and decided that Daniel Bernoulli would be my guest of honor that day.  When I started my lesson, I blew up a balloon and talked about air and its properties.  Inviting comments, I discovered that they had some very interesting background knowledge, and most of it was correct… Read the rest of this entry »

4 Comments | Elementary level, experiments, Middle School level, Physics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

Energize Your Class With The Energy Ball

August 1, 2012

Janice Van Cleave

by: Janice VanCleave

As a teacher, I enjoyed having people visit my class. It brought out the “ham” in me and I did and said things that even surprised me.  Rubbing a balloon on my hair and making my hair stand on ends was not unusual, but climbing on top of my desk sticking the charged balloon to the ceiling was a bit over the top.

What I disliked was the unscheduled visitor with an evaluation sheet in hand. But, I was always prepared. In fact, I had a box filled with materials for fun engaging activities. It was my “Emergency Experiment  Box.” When the evaluator unexpectedly arrived, out came the box and the show began.

My teaching abilities were being evaluated during an unexpected visit,  so I was prepared to show all my best qualities. I suggest you have an Emergency Experiment Box, and I do recommend including the Energy Ball.

Whatever you put in your box, make sure you know as much about the experiment as possible. The Energy Ball is great for teaching the scientific method. Too often kids memorize the steps of the scientific method, but do not use them on a daily bases. The scientific method is a set of problem solving tools—but every problem does not require using every instrument in the tool box.

I regress, let me get back to using the Energy Ball to fire up your students with or without unexpected guests.

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7 Comments | Elementary level, energy, experiments, Middle School level | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

Micro LEDs and Motion

July 21, 2012

Bruce Yearnyby: Bruce Yeany

The micro LED lights  known as Rave lights have become popular with students at dances and parties.   With the  lights turned down, kids have these lights on their hands or in gloves, and the results are totally awesome when they wave their hands around.  Watching this phenomenon takes me back to the era of the disco ball and laser light shows.  It became apparent to me that these little lights would be fantastic when incorporated into the study of motion. Using these lights and a digital camera, it would be fairly easy to record the motion of moving objects for closer study.  Rolling, spinning , swinging, falling, projectile motion, etc. can all be captured using a camera and these little lights.

Can you figure out how these were done?

Micro LEDs and Motion - Educational Innovations Blog

Micro LEDs and Motion - Educational Innovations Blog Read the rest of this entry »

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

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